Mysteries of High School: Sophomore Year
by Angie J Trifid
Summary: First in the MoHS series. Semi-human AU. April discovers she is developing a crush on Donnie. Karai is going through her rebellious phase and Leo doesn't know how to feel about it. Mikey and Raph both meet girls. Oh, and they have to hide the fact that they're actually turtles. Rated for teenage language. Apritello, Leorai, MikeyxAngel, RaphxJoy. Slight series mashup
1. April and Karai

**A/N: Suggestions for a better title would be very much appreciated**

**Anyways, I know human AUs are really popular, so I thought I'd go with a semi-human AU instead, just because it's a little bit different. You'll see what that means soon enough**

**This is based on the 2012 universe, but there will be aspects of other universes. For example, Karai will look like she did in the 2012 series, but her backstory will be the one from the 2003 series. Additionally, Donnie will wear glasses in his human form… I haven't actually seen the 2014 film but as a Whovian I couldn't resist adding the smarty-pants glasses (which, in this version, he doesn't really need)**

**The main pairings here are Apritello, Leorai, Raph and Joy (2003 series) and Mikey and Angel (same series)**

**I'm also just kind of hoping I haven't got April too OOC, but I thought it would go well with the story**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter One: April and Karai**

_I changed my style to silver  
__I changed my clothes to black  
__And where I would surrender  
__Now I would attack  
_~ _I Came So Far For Beauty_ by Leonard Cohen

Everyone in school knew that the Hamato brothers were the same age; but it was one of those things where you had to think a little harder before you realised they were actually quadruplets. Put together, you could see that they had the same noses and jaw lines, but there the aesthetic similarities seemed to end. They were all different heights; they had different hair colours; only two of the four had the same eye colour, and they weren't even the same shade.

But there was another way you could tell. It was something in their posture, actually. They stood perfectly still at times. In these moments, they only seemed to turn their heads to keep the focus of their attention out of their peripheral vision. It was undeniably strange.

Then there was the way they moved and walked. It looked natural, but there was something else in it. They seemed to always be perfectly upright unless one brother was sulking with another, and there was a… controlled sense to their movements, like they were keeping something back.

They weren't exactly unattractive, and they kept very much to themselves. Nobody knew about their personal or home lives. Some of the girls (and a couple of guys) not quite out of their tweenage phase had speculated that the brothers were vampires, but actually they were just an enigma. A big, four-part, walking enigma.

These were the thoughts running through the minds of April O'Neil and, probably, the rest of the class, as they walked into the room for their Public Speaking elective and found two of the Hamato brothers already sitting there, talking to each other. The realisation then kicked in that, this year, April would be taking class with them. She wasn't sure, but she thought they were the two eldest brothers.

April knew all their names, but she didn't know which name went with which face. Just by looking, though, she decided to take an educated guess.

The one on the left appeared to be the one called Raph. April came to this conclusion because he looked tense and grumpy, and there were stories around school about the temper Raph Hamato had. How he avoided detention was as much a mystery as his home life. Yes: the one with spiked-up red hair, green eyes and an expression indicating that he was constantly pissed off must be Raph.

The other brother was a bit trickier, but noticing that the brothers appeared to be arguing, April decided he was Leo. Apparently Raph and Leo fought the most. He seemed calmer than Raph, albeit somewhat irritated at the moment, and he had neat dark hair, which was so black that it looked almost blue.

April's thoughts turned briefly to the other two brothers. She knew they were called Mikey and Donnie, and she had been told that one was very intelligent but socially awkward and not much to look at, and the other was friendly and apparently adorable.

Seeing that the desks next to the two brothers were all taken, April opted for the one directly behind Raph. She saw the brothers watch her take her seat and then turn back to one another, talking fast and low and seemingly fluently in a foreign language. Remembering that their surname was _Hamato_, April realised they must be speaking Japanese.

She had to admit, she was impressed.

During the lesson, Raph and Leo (April was right about who they were) argued quietly a couple of times in Japanese. There seemed to be a bit of sibling rivalry of some sort going on between them. Occasionally they seemed to make hushed inside jokes, but the teacher never caught them.

They were wearing strange clothes, too. Only subtly strange, but strange.

They wore jeans which were done up strangely at the seams, and although she couldn't tell, she thought their shoes were slip-ons. They were both wearing sweatbands on their wrists – red for Raph and blue for Leo – and headbands of the same colours, pushed up to their hairlines. Additionally, Raph was wearing what appeared to be a thin burgundy body warmer with nothing else underneath, and Leo wore a t-shirt which wrapped around his torso like one of those shirts you saw people who do karate wearing. It was a very pale blue, with a darker blue belt around the middle, holding it shut.

April couldn't help but wonder why the brothers were wearing strange clothes like that, but then decided they must just like them and pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She could probably find out about them later, anyway.

* * *

"_That's the girl from the school paper, right?_" Leo asked in Japanese, watching a ginger girl with blue eyes and a yellow t-shirt sit behind the two of them.

"_Looks like her,_" Raph hissed back. "_April Something-Or-Other. The girl Don likes._"

"_What's the betting for how jealous he gets?_" Leo joked. Their brother Donnie had first seen her about a year ago and had said something along the lines of _she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen_. None of them had ever approached her, but Donnie read her article in the paper. She was a worryingly good journalist.

Raph snickered and then blanched. "_She better not do any snoopin' around._"

Leo nodded. They needed to protect their secret, no matter what. "_We'll be fine, Raph. We're ninjas, remember? We got this. Nothing's gonna happen._"

Raph groaned. "_Remind me to bathe in holy water later. I swear you've just cursed us._"

Leo argued back, but he understood Raph's worry. Just by reading the school paper, he knew that if that April girl wanted to get to the bottom of something, she always did. But they _had_ to protect their secret. It was so important that their adoptive father and sensei had only allowed them to go to school last year, when he was sure they could maintain their human appearances.

They couldn't afford to be compromised.

In fact, that was why they always stuck together. There was so much less chance of them slipping up in front of others that way. Of course, the goofball of a brother they called Mikey was their main focus of concern about this. Raph's temper was second most concerning.

As it was, though, they had a comfortable life, with nobody calling them freaks or experimenting on them, and they were determined to keep it that way.

* * *

Leo and Raph parted ways at the end of Public Speaking and Leo headed upstairs to his English class. He took his seat and watched the other students showing up. There were a couple he recognised, including a bespectacled kid called Chaplin. What exactly was that kid's first name, anyway?

Ah well. It probably didn't matter.

Class was ten minutes in when _she_ turned up. Leo was surprised. She was _never_ late for class. But clearly something had changed.

She swept into the room like a cold breeze, still the epitome of grace despite the new dark clothes, brooding appearance and lack of elegance. And – horror of horrors – the only empty seat was directly on his right, between Leo and Chaplin.

Dammit. As if it wasn't bad enough that she seemed to have decided to become… well, _hot_, over the summer. It wasn't that she hadn't been pretty before, but she actually looked like a teenager now. Pretty wasn't really the right word anymore. But why was he using the word _hot_?

Karai was the adopted daughter their greatest enemy and one-time rival of their father, who they affectionately called Master Splinter. Why she even went to public school was a mystery – the Shredder, or Oroku Saki, or her father or whatever you wanted to call him – had money to burn and could definitely afford private schooling. He could probably send her overseas to study if he wanted to.

Still, Leo had learned from experience and stories that it was best to keep the enemy close by. Especially when the enemy was pretty.

Wait, what?

Like Splinter and Saki, Karai originally came from Japan. Last year she had been elegant and formal, in dark dresses with matching jackets and heels, and her red bandana, which Leo thought might be wrapped around her wrist now. Her hair had been sleek and shiny, cut to just above her shoulders in sharp, neat lines, and she seemed to only wear a hint of lip gloss.

Now the hair Leo had secretly wondered about was almost entirely gone at the sides and back, bleached blonde underneath, and there were multiple piercings on her ears. She was wearing more makeup and her jeans, boots, dark shirt and jacket with spikes on the shoulders made her look more like a rebellious teenager (or gang member) from an old movie than the heiress of both a dangerous ninja gang and a multimillion dollar company with worryingly close ties to city hall.

Karai turned her head and caught Leo staring in shock. Usually they nodded curtly to one another and turned away. This time the corner of Karai's mouth pulled up in some kind of smirk and she nodded, not coldly, before looking away. Leo gave an awkward (and late) nod and also turned away.

Was that cigarette smoke he could smell? Had she been smoking?

What the hell was going on here?

For obvious reasons, Leo had been horrified to arrive at school and discover that he and Karai shared even _one_ class, let alone _two_. Even more surprising was that not only did she recognise Leo and his brothers, but she didn't treat them as the enemy at school. True, they didn't act as friends, but the hostility was so subtle you had to search long and hard to notice it.

He was just grateful she had respected their disguises. She never actually approached them to start a fight in school, or to say, "Hey, I know you guys are the Turtles raised by a rat who used to be Hamato Yoshi."

She had decided to tease him about it instead, telling him she would see him later and then making a wise crack about having to get up for school when they battled that night on the rooftops of New York City. Little smartass.

The worst part was that, when she had decided to turn up to school in red on the last day before the Christmas holidays last year, and had given out Christmas cards, Leo had realised he was actually a little bit _attracted_ to –

She broke into his reverie by hissing, "Hey! Leo!" and flicking him on the shoulder. Leo groaned and turned to her.

"What?"

"You got a pen I can borrow?"

Leo gave Karai an odd look. Maybe she had developed amnesia over the summer. That would at least explain the weird clothes and behaviour. She always called him by his full name, never forgot school equipment, didn't really even _talk_ to him unless she had to, to maintain the pretence that they didn't know each other. And her voice sounded different. A hint warmer, and…

…and her accent was gone.

"Why don't you borrow one from Chaplin?"

Karai shot him a deadpan look. He couldn't honestly say he blamed her. Chaplin had it worse for Karai than Donnie did for April O'Neil. Leo suspected it made Karai uncomfortable.

"Fine," he sighed, all but throwing his least favourite biro at her. "Keep it."

"_Arigatō_," she muttered.

Leo wasn't sure he liked that. He was _definitely_ sure he wasn't comfortable with this. This new Karai was strange; less professional and emotionally detached than she had been before the summer. Come to think of it, he hadn't actually _seen_ her all summer. Was she putting this look together the whole time, or was it meant to be a surprise? Or had she just been training intensively?

And now she was more expressive, too. She had never even uttered a syllable of Japanese within earshot of him before. She had occasionally thanked him around school, out of politeness, but that was it.

Jesus, this wasn't going to become a _thing_, was it?

Leo wasn't sure he'd be able to deal with that. He decided to just ignore it for now, and bring it up with his brothers later. _Much_ later.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was supposed to be a bit longer, to cover the whole day, and the last scene here was supposed to come on the second day, but I decided to redo some of it, and this felt like a good place to end it. I don't know when I'll be able to update next, because of college, but I'll try not to take too long**

**Reviews are appreciated, so I know I'm doing things right**


	2. The Road Home

**A/N: welcome back! Good to know you're enjoying this story enough to read the second chapter. I know it's a bit of a slow start but things should pick up soon**

**Thanks to **_**I Love Funny and Green Heroes**_** and **_**ChatterNoMatter**_** for reviewing, I really appreciate it!**

**I actually had most of the first two chapters already planned and written out already, so I just did it up a bit better, which is how I managed to update so quickly**

**Also, for the lyrics, I originally wanted something about family, but I thought the ones I went with matched April and Donnie better in this chapter**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Road Home**

_Tell me why you gotta be so cold  
__Tell me anything about you I don't know  
_~ _Cold_ by Matchbox 20

Other than Mikey breaking his record for eating his own lunch _and_ everybody else's leftovers in the shortest time possible – actually it was more like _inhaling_ than _eating_ – nothing much else really happened. The brothers made their way through the streets of New York to their new home, grateful that they hadn't been given any homework that day.

This time last year, they had been living in the sewers still. Now they could control their transformations enough to leave the sewers all day, Splinter had been able to earn enough money to open a dojo and live in the apartment above and behind it. The apartment seemed to have been added as an afterthought. No doors connected the two, and the front door of the apartment was at the back of the dojo, down a little side-alley. It was a good size, and everyone got their own bedroom, but there was still some homesickness for the sewers.

The walled garden out back was a welcome change, though. Splinter had given his sons full run of most of it, provided that they stayed out of his strip of garden at the back. The second they'd moved in, Donnie and Raph had erected a low picket fence and hammered it into Mikey's head that, outside of an emergency, he was _not_ to go past the fence.

_Ever_.

As they walked, Leo was explaining about English class.

"…and then Karai showed up ten whole minutes late and there was something really weird going on!" he exclaimed, pausing briefly to take a deep breath in so he could carry on talking. "I mean, she was _late_, she looks completely different, she forgot her school stuff, she actually _talked_ to me –"

Raph snorted. "You know what you sound like? Some guy out of a really bad high school movie. _She talked to me, she actually talked to me_!" he said, batting his eyelashes and adopting a falsetto tone.

Leo punched him in the shoulder. "You know I don't mean it like that."

"_Sure_ you don't," Mikey said teasingly. "And you totally don't have the hots for her, either."

"I don't!" Leo protested.

Raph reached forwards, grabbed hold of Donnie's brown hair – it was long and he always kept it tied back with a purple band – and gave it a yank. Donnie's head snapped back and he gave a yelp before turning to glare at Raph. "Will you _stop_ doing that!?" he complained.

Raph smirked. "Speaking of girls, guess what?"

"How am I supposed to do that? You just killed about a million of my brain cells. I'll be surprised if I remember my own name."

"April O'Neil takes a class with me and Leo."

"_Ooooooh_," Mikey teased excitedly, grinning. The large, loose, flicky curls in his gold-coloured hair bounced up and down as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"It's not funny to tease a guy like that, Raph," Donnie said flatly, adjusting his backpack where the strap had slid into a position he found uncomfortable.

"No, I'm serious!" Raph protested. "She sits behind us in Public Speaking!"

"She does," Leo said. "We better be more careful if she's in our classes."

"So if you want us to pass her a saucy love note –"

"Shut up Raph," Leo said.

Donnie heaved a sigh and Mikey rolled his eyes. Deciding they were close enough to home not to encounter anyone from school (unless Karai was planning an ambush, but it was too light out for that), Donnie removed the weak-lensed coke bottle glasses he didn't actually need and slipped them into his pocket.

"So bros," Mikey said, looking a little more serious than usual, "I think I'm gonna try out for the soccer team."

There was a pause before Leo said, "I think that's a good idea."

Mikey looked surprised. He had been ready to argue and defend his decision. None of the brothers had even _considered_ going for extracurricular and afterschool activities last year, not knowing if it was a good idea or not. But now Mikey had decided he was going to give it a go.

He was the most sociable brother, so it would probably do him some good to mingle with his peers. So long as he didn't give any of their secrets away.

"Really? You're okay with it?"

"Sure we are, Mikey," Raph said encouragingly. "And when you don't make the cut, we'll take you out for pizza and ice cream."

Mikey gave him a sarcastic look and a laugh to match. "Funny. No really, bro. I seriously think I could do it."

"We'll all be rooting for you, Mikey," Donnie said.

"Hey Don," Raph teased, yanking on Donnie's ponytail again, "maybe you could try out for the school paper. I'm sure April would be _thrilled_ to have someone to interview. You never know, she might even buy you dinner." Donnie blushed. The boys were well aware of their enigmatic status.

"You're gonna break his neck like that one day," Leo commented.

"He shouldn't have his hair long, then."

Smacking Raph's hand away, Donnie said defensively, "I like it long. And I don't think I'd make a particularly good reporter. But I agree that we'd blend in better if we actually _took part_ in school activities."

"Too late. We don't. Blend in, I mean."

"It's settled, then," Leo said conclusively. "Mikey's trying out for the football team. Donnie's on the school newspaper –"

"No I'm –"

"– and Raph can try out for this year's school play." Leo paused to take in the disgusted face Raph pulled.

"Funny, Fearless."

A smirk graced Leo's mouth. "How funny?" he was walking backwards now, ahead of the group.

"C'mere and I'll tell you."

Leo shrieked and took off with a semi-maniacal laugh, Raph following angrily. Donnie and Mikey glanced at each other, grinned with laughter and followed. When Leo reached the door to the apartment behind the dojo, he leaned against the wall and said, "Base."

Raph grumbled and opened the door.

It opened onto a small hallway which, lengthways, measured about half the width of the dojo. Beyond this was a living room and, further back, a kitchen-dining room. At the back and to the right was a final short hallway, wrapped around the other side of the dojo, which led to the stairs, a downstairs bathroom, and a spare room which Donnie seemed to have taken up as his lab for now. In other words, Donnie's room.

The furniture was all in place, but boxes were everywhere.

Abandoning his schoolbag in the hallway, Raph picked his way around half-unpacked boxes of books and decorations, and stretched upwards as far as he could. "I don't know about you," he said to his brothers, "but I'm _dying_ to get outta this human skin."

He removed his body warmer and shoes, and willed the transformation to take place. His hair retreated into his scalp, his nose flattened and his face rounded, his ears disappeared, his skin became solid and pebbled, like that of a reptile. As his digits melded together so he had three per hand and foot instead of five, a plastron formed across his front and a shell across his back, and his skin turned green.

His muscles expanded and the shell tore his jeans down the side-seams, which had been specially undone and then sewn back together with Velcro, to save on time and the need to keep buying more if there was an emergency in which he had to transform. They didn't bother with underpants. Not worth replacing them the whole time. Just for days when they knew they'd have to be in their skivvies in public. So basically, days when they had PE.

He slid his hair band – which was really a ninja mask – over his eyes and untucked the tails from the rest of the mask.

All this took place in the space of a couple of seconds. Leo, Donnie and Mikey quickly did the same.

The brothers, as you may have realised, were not in fact humans. They were actually mutant turtles. Even Donnie wasn't sure on all the scientific details which allowed them to switch between human and mutant forms, but he felt sure it had something to do with Splinter, the only one of them who had been human originally. Now, however, he was actually a six-foot rat who, like them, had the ability to turn human.

Splinter currently sat meditating in his strip of the garden – beyond the sliding glass doors, small patio which they planned to buy a barbeque and furniture for, and the boys' part – meditating in his non-human form.

Much like his sons, while he enjoyed being able to appear human, Splinter found his animal form more natural. It was also difficult to maintain human forms for long periods of time without practise, which the boys had more of than their father. His ear switched as Mikey jumped onto the couch, to Raph's complaints, and put the television on.

He smiled to himself and went back to his meditation.

* * *

April glanced around her AP Chemistry class and was not even slightly surprised to find the Hamato brother with brown hair sitting at the back on his own. A quick internet search last night had told her this was Donnie.

The stories were right that he wasn't the best-looking of his brothers, but April didn't think she would describe him as _plain_ or anything. The glasses were a bit off-putting, and he was tall and a little bit lanky, but he wasn't ugly.

Just as Leo and Raph had, Donnie was wearing sweatbands and a headband, she noticed, in purple this time. His eyes were large and brown, a colour somewhere between chocolate and chestnut. They were gentle and intelligent at the same time. Like his brothers, he wore slip-on shoes and strangely sewn-up jeans. They were a little short for him, and she could see that he wasn't wearing socks. He was also wearing a green jacket over a purple shirt done up with press-studs.

Part of her motivation was that if she could persuade one of the Hamato brothers to give her an interview for the school paper, it would be the biggest thing since the guy who'd caught the jerk stealing peoples' drinks by rigging them up with laxatives. The other part was her natural curiosity. Of course, everyone was curious about the Hamato family, but April's curiosity was a lot stronger than that of others.

It was part of why she wanted to be a field reporter. Preferably an investigative one.

April walked straight over to Donnie, where there was an empty seat.

"This seat isn't taken, is it?"

He looked up at her and a slight blush crossed his face. His hair band kept his long bangs out of his eyes, but he swept them aside anyway. "No," he said quietly. He cleared his throat and said, "No, it's not taken."

"Thanks," she said, sliding into the seat next to him. "I'm April, by the way."

"I know," Donnie said. "I always read your article in the school paper. It's good."

April felt her ego inflate, but repressed it. She prided herself on her work for the paper, and it always felt good to have somebody praise it. "Thanks," she smiled.

"My brother liked the one about the guy stealing the drinks best. He couldn't stop giggling. He had to give the paper to our dad in the end and it even set _him_ off."

April grinned. "That one was all that Casey Jones kid," she confessed. "He was the one who booby-trapped the drinks in the first place. And the others thought I'd be good at writing a bit of scandal."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. The laughter seemed to drain from Donnie's eyes and the colour from his face, and he immediately closed himself off, turning to look at the front of the classroom. "I'm Donnie," she heard him say politely, but the warmth had drained from his voice, too. April blinked in surprise, and began to wonder what she had done wrong, when she found herself distracted by, for some strange reason, his hair.

It was a rich chocolate colour, and even tied back, it ran all the way down to the bottoms of his shoulder blades, and she could tell that it was all uneven. April wondered how much it got in the way, especially during practical science lessons. She also wondered, for a brief half of a second, whether his hair was soft.

The teacher told the class that the people they currently sat beside would be their lab partners in all their science classes this year. _Brilliant,_ April thought, _I haven't ruined my chances for an interview. I can get this back._ She tried to gauge Donnie's reaction, but his face was totally blank.

She tried to make conversation during the course of the class, but now he answered with minimal words only, didn't speak unless she did first, and seemed relieved when she stopped trying.

April sighed. If she could just figure out how she'd offended him…

* * *

She went through the rest of the second day in a daze, only shaking herself free of it when she headed for the newspaper club after school. They mostly chattered about their summers, decided on the first issue being a cheesy _Welcome Back_ issue, and talked some more.

At one point the head of the newspaper asked if there was anything in particular any of them wanted to work on this year.

"I'm in classes with three of the Hamato brothers," April piped up immediately. "One of them, Donnie, is my lab partner this year. I was thinking I could…" and she launched into a brief sales pitch of her idea to interview at least _one_ of the Hamato brothers for the school paper. The others liked it.

Leaving the newspaper club, April spotted Donnie also heading home. Alone.

This in itself was strange, because outside of classes, she had never seen the brothers go anywhere without each other before.

Figuring she ought to apologise for whatever she had done wrong, April opted to follow him. She didn't call out or run over straight away, because judging by the way he had acted in class after she'd said whatever had upset him, he would probably run. And although he didn't seem the most athletic person in the world, he could probably outrun her pretty easily with those long legs.

April figured she could catch up to him at a set of traffic lights or something, but Donnie was always just a little bit ahead. He led her all through the city, not seeming to follow the main streets but something else. Occasionally he would stop and stare at a manhole, then turn and walk a different way. April feared she would get lost and not be able to find her way home.

And she did. She finally lost him when he turned into an alley, turned a corner and seemingly vanished. At least, she couldn't see him when she turned the corner too. April ran to the end of the backstreet she was on but, still not seeing his long hair or green jacket, she sighed and turned back.

And promptly bumped into three older guys with knives.


	3. Guardian and Angel

**A/N: welcome to chapter three, Readers Dearest. Sorry for the cliff-hanger back there. To make up for it, have some Apritello. This starts just before the end of the last chapter, so there's a bit of Sulky Donnie for you, too. Oh yeah, and Angel appears in this one**

**Shout-outs/replies to the reviewers:**

**ChatterNoMatter: No problem! I always give my reviewers a shout-out. I'm glad you liked the quick update. They probably won't be within five hours of each other anymore, though  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks, I'm glad you like it so much!  
****Rebecca: Thanks! I might cover how the turtles and Splinter can take on human forms bit-by-bit, or in little pieces, or I might not because it's not really the main focus of the story**

**Thanks so much for all the support I've received so far, I really appreciate it! Also, I apologise for the weird, cheesy chapter name**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Guardian and Angel**

_I'll be there for you  
__These five words I swear to you  
__When you breathe, I wanna be the air for you  
__I'll be there for you  
_~ _I'll be There for You_ by Bon Jovi

Donnie huffed, joining his brothers on the side of the soccer field somewhat more reluctantly than he usually would have done, trudging along with his hands in his pockets and miserable thoughts in his head. Mikey was in his gym kit, looking as excited as Donnie knew he _should_ be feeling, but never would again.

Damn AP Science. Damn the school newspaper. Damn Donnie himself for ever thinking, however fleetingly, that April O'Neil could possibly be _genuinely_ interested in talking to him.

Just… just damn everything, really.

"Glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence," Raph joked irately as Donnie approached. "How freaking long does it take to – woah. The hell happened to you?"

Donnie shrugged emotionlessly, staring bitterly at the ground. "April's my lab partner this year," he grumbled. Raph and Leo exchanged worried glances. He knew they thought he should be happier about the news, too.

"Did she talk to you?" Mikey asked, happily oblivious. Oh, to be so excited by tryouts that he could be excused for not noticing his own bad mood. Donnie wished he were still blissfully ignorant to April's motives.

"She opted to sit by me," he said, trying to sound – and make himself feel – excited. He failed.

The confusion on his brothers' faces increased tenfold, appearing on Mikey's for the first time. He honestly couldn't say he blamed them.

"So what's the problem?" Leo asked.

Donnie shrugged.

"Don, tell us what's wrong _right now_, or I swear I'll pound you so hard –" Leo put a hand on Raph's shoulder.

"Tell us what it is," he said gently. "You should be floating right now."

Donnie snorted humourlessly and explained what had happened to them. "When she said the rest of the newspaper club thought she was good at writing scandal," he concluded, "it sounded like she just wanted to sit next to me so she could get something to write about in her article."

He wanted his brothers to call him stupid, hopeless, pathetic. He wanted them to tell him what a moron he was for not realising April just wanted something to put in her article in the first place. He wanted Raph to say _I told you so_, then tell him he was a loser for being upset about it and instruct him to grow a pair and get over it.

But that didn't happen. Instead they gave him the unwanted sympathetic looks he had expected. It made him feel worse. The drawbacks of a loving family, he supposed.

"Dude, it'll be okay," Mikey promised solemnly.

"No it won't," Donnie complained quietly.

"Yes it will," Raph said, reaching over and giving Donnie's long hair an affectionate tug. Donnie offered him a half-hearted dirty look and a huff of annoyance. "See? Better already."

"Shut it," Donnie snapped quietly. He _did_ feel a little bit better, though.

"You should go home dude," Mikey told him.

"No!" Donnie protested immediately. "I promised I'd come and support you. That's what brothers are for!"

"Brothers also know when time alone is needed," Mikey replied, trying to sound mystical. "Dude, I don't mind. You can't stay here when you've been crossed in love!" he added dramatically.

Donnie blushed and prayed to every god from every religion he knew of that nobody had heard Mikey. Or that if they had, they weren't paying attention.

But it was true: he needed some time alone just now. And in a house of five males, moments of peace – or even uninterrupted one-on-one talks with Splinter, like he could also do with – were few and far between.

"If you're sure…" Donnie said uncertainly.

"It's fine," Raph said.

The people trying out for the soccer team were called to line up for a penalty shootout.

"I'll score a good one for you, D," Mikey promised, giving his brother a quick, reassuring hug. "Off the top bar."

"Thanks Mikey," Donnie said, ruffling his hair. Donnie promised to be safe and not do anything stupid, and left.

"Think he'll be okay?" Leo asked, concerned, watching Mikey jog onto the field.

"Who? Braniac or Chuckles?"

"Donnie."

"He'll bounce back," Raph said, waving a hand dismissively as he stood with his arms folded across his chest. "Give him a bit of space. If he doesn't talk to Splinter about it we will. Dear Old Dad always knows what to say."

"I guess…" Leo said uncertainly. "He seemed pretty crushed, though. I mean, you know what he's like about showing emotions."

"You mean how he royally sucks at it?"

"Well, yeah."

"Eh, he'll get over it. We can always beat some sense into him."

"Whatever you say, Raph."

* * *

The school was about a block behind when Donnie realised someone was following him intentionally. Leo was the leader and, barring trips to the grocery store, this was the first time he had gone off on his own while Topside. Suddenly realising he had to sort this little problem out for himself and hope Foot ninjas weren't following him, Donnie felt incredibly pressured.

The first thing he had to do, he supposed, was to find out who his pursuer was without tipping them off that he knew he was being followed. That was the easy part. At a traffic light, he pretended to clean his glasses while he was actually checking a tiny mirror hidden behind the frame – double-checked in a shop window and triple-checked in a car window to make sure he was not mistaken – and almost stopped breathing when he realised the person following him was none other than April O'Neil.

God, how badly he wished their conversation earlier today had never happened. He wished he could believe she wanted to ask him to hang out with her, like those girls who read too many of certain scorned books did with Raph and Leo. To believe he would ever have a chance to run his hands through that silky red hair and let himself get lost in those lovely blue eyes.

But the conversation from AP Chemistry jumped to the front of his mind again like it was in the Olympics, and he realised she must have some ulterior motive.

Dammit.

Next, then, he supposed, he had to lose her.

Good God, Donnie was glad he had some context for that.

Most of New York City, he didn't know from the streets. Only his route to and from school, and to the shops near his house, was known to him unless he was above or below ground level. But Donnie and his family knew the sewers of New York by heart, and Donnie himself could navigate almost entirely by manhole covers and storm drains. Not to brag or anything. So the plan was now to use his navigational knowledge to walk the streets above the sewers. When there was enough space between he and April, he would hop out of sight on a roof or down a manhole, and make his way home from there.

She was persistent; he would have to give her that much.

Donnie had been leading April on a virtual lab maze of New York for fifteen minutes now and she was _still_ following him. Not that he would ordinarily complain about being followed by a beautiful girl his own age, but that wasn't the point.

It took a great deal of effort, but Donnie finally managed to put two corners between himself and April. Immediately he climbed up a fire escape and onto the roof of an apartment building. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe now.

Watching cautiously from the roof, ready to duck out of sight if she looked up, Donnie saw April reach the second corner, realise he was gone, and turn back dejectedly. A pinprick of guilt, small but concentrated, stung Donnie. Now April was probably lost, and if he didn't find a way to subtly help her –

Oh shit. Three guys who looked to be twenty-something and carried knives were advancing on April. He didn't know what their intentions were, but he had to step in and help somehow. Obviously he'd have to transform – he couldn't exactly just come back when he was supposed to have disappeared – but could he _really_ risk being seen? Especially by April, who for one thing he didn't want to be rejected by in any way, shape or form; and for another, who was on the school newspaper?

But when he saw one of the guys shove April against a wall and hold a knife to her throat, Donnie found he didn't care. He immediately shed his clothes and transformed, reaching into his school bag and withdrawing his emergency weapon: a collapsible metal bo staff. Donnie preferred his actual wooden bo staff, but this one locked in place to support his weight, and Splinter had told them they could only attend school if they were armed, just in case.

He was now infinitely grateful for the time he had spent slaving away in his lab, working on the damn thing. He hopped off the roof and landed silently off to the side.

Evidently April had fought back as best she could. The one who'd held a knife to her throat was on his knees, gripping his balls in pain. April had disarmed one of the other guys, but there was a shallow cut on her cheek and an angry red mark where one of the creeps had slapped her. She was not bleeding but Donnie didn't know how badly injured she had been.

She had done a good job holding them off, but she looked exhausted. Donnie knew she couldn't keep this up for long.

"Don't you know it's not nice to hit a lady?" he bantered angrily, and immediately swept the metal bo staff under the feet of the two creeps still standing. They were knocked over backwards and hit their heads on the ground, knocking themselves out. The bo staff caught the other guy in the head, knocking him out, too. Donnie hastily used their hoodies to tie them up, moving their knives out of reaching distance.

Then he turned to April.

"Don't be scared," he said, affecting a rough voice so she wouldn't recognise him and hoping he sounded gentle. She gripped the knife a little tighter. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to –" he was cut off when April dropped the knife and fainted.

Into his arms.

Donnie scooped April up, savouring the way she felt in his arms. There was a manhole cover nearby: he quickly entered the sewers and found somewhere he could nurse April's injuries. Then he could return for his things.

* * *

Mikey was walking on sunshine when he found out he'd made the cut. The coach was tough, and there were a lot of good players trying out; but apparently, even holding back, Mikey was good enough. _Booyakasha!_

"Congrats," someone said as he headed back over to Raph and Leo. "You're pretty good."

Mikey looked over to thank the girl who'd said it, and felt his mouth go dry. There had been a girl trying out because there wasn't enough interest in a girls' soccer team this year, and this was her. She'd made the cut, too. Aside from professionals, she was one of the best players he'd ever seen.

She was kind of pretty, too, in a totally badass way. Her hair was dyed purple and pulled into two pigtails, and her light brown eyes reflected the satisfaction he felt at making the cut. She had a few piercings, mostly on her ears, but one on her right eyebrow as well.

"Thanks!" he said. "You're really good too!"

"I'd like to play a match against you some time, one-on-one. You know, for training."

Mikey's freckled face split into a grin. "Sure, uh…" he faltered.

"Angel," the girl introduced.

_Angel_. Mikey had a feeling he was going to need to remember that name. "Sure, Angel!" he exclaimed. "When?"

"Probably Saturday, but I got a feeling this friend of mine's gonna be on my back about it unless I sneak away. How about I text you when I can meet up?"

"You got it."

They swapped numbers and parted ways. Leo and Raph were staring in awe.

"What the hell was that?" Raph demanded.

"She's on the soccer team, too," Mikey said happily, joining his brothers as they began walking home. "We're gonna meet up and play soccer some time. But she has to sneak away so –"

"I don't get it," Raph said, turning to Leo in confusion. "How does Chuckles get a girl's number before us? That's totally unfair!"

"Maybe because he was the first one to actually _take part_ in things," Leo said smoothly. "Come on Mikey, we'll go get Donnie and Splinter and take you out for ice cream to celebrate you making the soccer team."

* * *

When April woke up, she found herself face-to-face with _whatever_ had saved her from those three creeps. She let out a startled gasp and tried to scramble back, but gave a cry of pain at the twinge in her left ankle. The creature jumped back and gave a surprised yelp.

"I-I didn't mean to startle you," it stammered in an apologetic, gruff tone. "You were hurt so I brought you here to clean you up. You don't need the hospital. I was just finishing cleaning the cut on your cheek… I didn't think you'd wake up just yet."

April looked at the… whatever it was. It was green, taller than her, and stood perfectly upright as she sat up. It carried a metal staff and wore a purple mask, and had some sort of bulk on its back, and no nose. It was very reptilian, but not alien, in appearance; in fact, it actually looked kind of like…

Holy shit. It was a _turtle_!

"Y-you saved me from those creeps?" April asked breathlessly, catching just enough of her breath to stammer the sentence out.

"Yes," the turtle said. The gruffness in his – it _was_ a guy; she was certain – voice sounded fake. "You should be okay, but you hurt your ankle."

"What about Donnie?" she asked. When the turtle didn't answer, she went on to describe him. "About your height, long brown hair? He goes to my school. I was kind of following him. I hope he isn't hurt…"

She must have sounded pathetic, because the turtle put a hand on her shoulder – it was significantly less cold than she had expected – and said gently, "He's nearby. He was knocked out. He's fine, though," the turtle added quickly.

April hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry for screaming like that. Especially since you saved me."

"It's understandable," the turtle said dismissively. After a pause, he added, "I have to go. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this."

Before April could protest, or promise not to tell anyone, he was gone. She huffed slightly, sat back and looked around her as best she could.

It was dark and not exactly warm, and April could see a grate above her with people walking over it. She realised she must be in the sewers.

Great. How was she supposed to get out of here? And how exactly was she supposed to get home?

April tried to stand up on what she now realised was the mattress she must have been placed on by the turtle, but her ankle twinged again and once more she cried out, and was surprised to be answered by a soft groan. April saw that her shoe had been removed and her ankle wrapped carefully, and wondered how she could find the turtle and thank him.

Then she realised who must have groaned.

"_Donnie_!?" she called into the darkness. There was a pause; then footsteps splashed up the sewer pipe towards her.

"April?" he asked when he reached her. "Are you alright? Some jerk in a hoodie knocked me out and –"

April ignored him and grabbed his hand. "Help me up," she requested. "I did something to my ankle."

Donnie obliged and April threw her left arm over his shoulder so he could help her walk. Picking up their schoolbags, which were beside the mattress, they limped along the sewer pipe.

"Did you… see anything weird at all?" April asked cautiously.

Donnie shrugged. "I don't remember anything between hitting a wall and waking up. We should probably get out of here, though… where to?"

April rattled off her address and he nodded, leading her in what he said seemed to be the right direction and promising he'd find them somewhere to navigate from. They continued for a while in silence, other than their footsteps.

"I'm really sorry," April blurted out suddenly. Donnie didn't look at her, but inclined his head slightly to show he was listening. "Whatever it was I said that upset you," she continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. That's why I'm here. Well, not why I'm here in the sewers, or I guess it could be. I mean, I kind of followed you. I just wanted to apologise, but I –"

Donnie cut her off by gently squeezing the hand which rested on his shoulder. "Apology accepted," he said warmly. "Now let's get you home. Maybe you could write a story on it."

"No," April said quickly, thinking about the promise she hadn't had the chance to make to the turtle.

"Yeah, I can understand that. Alone in the sewers, with a boy. Imagine the teasing!"

"Oh God!" April exclaimed, and they burst out laughing. When they were done, April said, "Listen, Donnie, whatever it was that upset you, I wanna make it up to –"

"Stop it, April," Donnie said gently. "You're forgiven. Just… next time, apologise outright instead of following me all over NYC, okay?"

April smiled a little. "Okay."

"Hey, look, a manhole!" Donnie exclaimed. "Let's go see where we are!"

With April clinging to his back, he climbed onto the street, and she was surprised to find that they were in an alley beside her apartment. "That was…"

"Convenient?"

"How'd you know where we were?"

Donnie blushed. "I-I didn't," he stuttered quickly. "Just got lucky, I guess."

April thought he might be lying, but decided not to press her luck. "Well, thanks for walking me home," she joked. "Take care of your head."

"I will. Take care of your ankle. Need any help getting in?"

"No, I can make it from here."

They parted ways and April smiled to herself, only then realising she had salvaged the possibility of that interview for the school paper. She would _definitely_ have to thank that turtle if she could find him again.

Aw, who cared about the school paper? They'd had their own little adventure _and_ made up. And she kind of wanted to keep that to herself, even if nothing teenage-gossip-worthy had really happened. April turned back to ask Donnie if he was going to tell anyone about what had just happened to them, but he was already gone.

April blinked. How did he _do_ that?


	4. Truce

**A/N: woo, chapter four! More thanks to everyone who's supported this fanfic so far! I love you guys! And thanks for all the reviews, too. The amount of reviews I had for this story literally doubled within two hours of the last update. Beginnings of some Leorai in this one, and continuations of Apritello**

**ChatterNoMatter: Thanks so much! Angel IS cool, I'm just kind of praying I got her character right. Thanks again. More Apritello should be on the way but I want to add a bit of Leorai first  
****Thegirlwholived: Thanks!  
****A girl: Thanks, good to know  
****ZathuraRoy: Thank you, I try  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much!  
****Tatiana Mendoza: Thank you  
****JadeKurosaki: Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it  
****Thor-Born: I've thought about adding Leatherhead and Casey to the story properly, I'm just not sure how to go about it so I don't know when they'll turn up. Also, Casey wasn't stealing the drinks; he came up with the idea to catch the person stealing them**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Truce**

_You be the maker of the peace  
__I'll be the peacemaker  
_~ _The Peacemaker_ by Albert Hammond

Karai was just sitting down for dinner when Oroku Saki informed her that she was distracted. As a matter of fact, those were his exact words.

"You are distracted, Karai," he said. It was definitely _not_ a question, and it immediately put Karai on-edge. She huffed mentally. So much for having a friendly conversation over dinner.

"Am I?" she asked, trying to sound like she had no idea what he was talking about and hoping she didn't sound too irritated that he had pointed it out to her. She definitely wasn't going to tell him what she was so distracted by.

"You have not been yourself of late," Saki added, his face stoic and his voice a deep monotone. "I cannot help but wonder what the problem is. I am… concerned."

_You don't look particularly concerned,_ Karai thought bitterly. _The only person you're concerned about is yourself._ Aloud, she told him, "I like this look."

"And your distraction?" Saki pressed.

Karai remained silent for a moment. "I am… trying to focus on my education," she lied decisively.

Saki seemed as though he wanted to say something, but didn't. Karai was relieved that he did not press the matter further. He might have suspected she was lying to him, but he had no way of knowing what about, or what the truth was.

And she _did_ like her new style – the accent was tough to lose, but she could get it back – partly because it felt so much more like a teenager rather than a mini-adult, with the elegant dresses, simple makeup and semi-stoic attitude.

They finished dinner in silence. Karai rose, announced rather formally that she was going out, and left for the rooftops without changing into her gear or grabbing her sword. She didn't plan on fighting tonight, anyway. She just wanted to sit and think. The air on the rooftops helped keep her head clear.

And she didn't particularly want to be in the building she called home right now.

It wasn't that she was ungrateful to Saki for raising her. She was just frustrated, she thought as her gaze swept over a nearby play area at a park, and turned to a glare. She felt like he was just _using_ her for something.

It had actually begun last year, all this frustration, when Saki had taken her out of private schooling and sent her to a public high school with no explanation. Then she had discovered, much to her surprise, that she recognised four of the students: Leonardo and his brothers. In fact, she was so surprised to have recognised them that it had taken a while to kick in that she had not recognised them as they really were, but in _human forms_. Equally surprising was that she found Leo's human form quite… handsome.

Yes; that seemed to be the right word. Leonardo did definitely not make an ugly turtle, but she was still surprised to find she thought his human form was attractive. And the unspoken in-school truce which seemed to exist between them didn't seem to be helping the situation very much.

The worst part was how totally unsurprised Saki was when she revealed to him that the Turtles were attending the school in human 'guises. That was when she began to feel as though he wanted her to somehow get to them, all without telling her. Shortly after, she had begun to doubt his sense of honour, and it had all gone downhill from there.

It had perhaps been a long time coming. She realised, as she saw the Hamato family interact even as humans, that she had not had a real childhood. No playing house, no trips to the park with Daddy, no siblings to tease or be teased by; just training the whole time. Oh, she had been grateful to be taken off the streets, but now she realised she was missing out on all the crap families always reminisced and complained about.

God, she resented those play areas in parks. She had never visited them as a kid; had no friends to visit them with now.

What had really brought on the change in her was the realisation of the missing childhood. She sure as shit wasn't going to miss out on being a teenager. No way.

A group of teenagers traipsed happily along the sidewalk beneath her, laughing and joking and shouting. Karai stepped back from the building edge but listened jealously. Her childhood had been so sheltered, she wasn't even sure she knew _how_ to make friends. But, she decided resolutely, she would figure it out.

Who would she make friends with, though?

She knew Chaplin liked her, so he would be willing to be her friend. But Saki also knew of him, and seemed to like him for his intelligence. He was always looking for new people with the potential to work for the Foot clan. But she wasn't particularly interested in befriending Chaplin, especially knowing her father-and-master approved of him.

Karai sighed and began to head back. That was enough thinking for one night, perhaps.

As she was heading home, she saw them. The entire Hamato clan, Yoshi included, were leaving an ice cream and pizza parlour in their human disguises. She even recognised the rat: the mutation had caused his nose to lengthen, and his hair to change colour, but otherwise he looked exactly as he had done in old images she had seen of him. The five of them were laughing and having fun together. God, she wanted that.

And then a stupid and brilliant thought jumped to her front of her mind. A potentially dangerous idea.

Eh, so what? She would see him tomorrow in their Drama elective, which she had taken not for fun but so she could learn to play whatever role suited her and falsify her emotions, as per Saki's instructions. She had found the class fun, but she doubted Saki would approve, so she pretended not to. But dammit, this year she was going to let herself have _fun_ with it.

Karai would make friends, she decided. She would have fun. And she would live the life she chose for herself; not the one chosen for her.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Raph said as they left the pizza parlour, "Mikey got a girl's number and you were on a _date_?"

Donnie, who had just explained his little adventure to his family, immediately protested. "It wasn't a – wait, Mikey got a girl's number?"

Leo briefly explained how Mikey had swapped numbers with a girl called Angel. Then he added, "But that was really reckless of you, Donnie. You realise that _if_ April doesn't tell, she's probably in danger now, right?"

"Well, I had to do _something_!"

"But you shouldn't have –"

"Enough," Splinter commanded firmly. The bickering stopped immediately, and without question. "Donatello," he said calmly, "you have taken a great risk by revealing your true nature to others, even when they do not know it was you. However, you did it to save a person you care for. While it is true that people often do stupid things in the name of love, this may be a good thing. If Miss O'Neil can accept you for what you really are, there may be hope for our family after all. And you will have my blessing."

Donnie's face turned red and Leo wondered if that would ring true for all of them.

* * *

The next day, which was a Friday, Leo had the dreaded Other Class With Karai: his Drama elective. It was bad enough sharing an English class, especially with this new attitude she suddenly had on. But the lesson he'd specifically _chosen_ to take, too?

This hour was supposed to be _fun_. He was _not_ supposed to be spending it, for example, wondering what had happened to the enemy over the summer, or why he was even attracted to her and why the new change had not helped that problem.

Or, for another example, why the teacher thought it was a good idea to put them in the same group for the semester. Dammit.

Although he _did_ get an answer to the last question when he saw the other members of his group. One was a girl who appeared to be made entirely out of makeup, and the other was a boy who looked like his main hobby was staying up too late partying. The teacher probably thought they could pull the dreaded Unworkable Two, as they were sometimes called, off their asses.

"I am _so_ glad Chaplin didn't take this elective," Karai breathed as the class split into their groups. "I've been trying to get away from him all summer. My father gave him an internship at Saki Enterprises." She shot Leo a meaningful look and he understood what she was telling him, but not why. Chaplin had been working with the Foot. He made a mental note to warn his brothers later.

"Is that what spurred the new Bad Girl look?" Leo asked, genuinely curious. "Are you trying to get Chaplin off your back?" He tried to pretend he didn't think he sounded just a bit jealous.

Karai scoffed. "Pfft. _No_. Like I'd change how I look for a _guy_. Ugh."

Pushing aside the feeling of relief, Leo shrugged and grabbed one of the assignment sheets. Maybe having Karai in the group wouldn't be too bad. She didn't take any crap, after all. And if he could lead team of trained (albeit rather unprofessional) teenaged ninjas, he could struggle through this. Especially if Karai was going to help him, which hopefully she would. Makeup Girl and Party Boy, whose names he'd never bothered to learn, were well known for being the two in the group who were hardest to work with.

"So Boss, what's the mission?" Karai asked. The group sat in a circle, cross-legged mostly, apart from Makeup Girl, who was in a miniskirt and had to sit differently.

"Please don't call me that," Leo requested, squirming a little. It was making him uncomfortable.

"What about Fearless?" she asked. Leo groaned, causing her to let out a small laugh. Then she leaned over his shoulder to see the sheet, saying, "Come on, what is it?"

Leo gulped and tried not to blush at the feeling of Karai's body pressed against his back. This sort of closeness with someone outside of his family was something he was definitely _not_ used to. He could feel her breathing and he tried not to squirm.

"If you two are gonna get it on," Party Boy said in a voice which suggested he was at least a little bit high, "can you do it somewhere else?"

Leo flushed angrily and nudged Karai away with his elbow, and Karai herself laughed again, harder and longer this time. She contained her laughter as best she could, drawing her knees up to her chest and hiding her face in them. Huh. Leo had never actually _heard_ Karai laugh before. But here she was now, trying _not_ to laugh, with her face scrunched up in the cutest –

No. Bad thoughts. Stop it, Leo.

Trying to distract himself, Leo scanned the assignment sheet and swore under his breath. They had to do a twenty-minute performance with the theme _Love and Hate_. Dammit. Again.

Karai snatched the sheet from him and grinned, glancing in his direction out the corner of his eye. Leo suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

"We totally got this," she informed the others, telling them the theme and that the sheet said they could pick whatever they wanted as long as they went along with it. "But we're not doing _Romeo and Juliet_. That shit's so overdone."

Leo stared. Karai never used to swear. What was going on with her?

"It's a classic, though," Makeup Girl protested. She was probably hoping to be Juliet.

"_Romeo and Juliet_ sucks," Party Boy complained.

Leo kind of agreed with Karai. It was too overdone and she wouldn't budge on her choice anyway. And he was not doing _anything_ which had a daughter-of-the-enemy thing going on. "What sort of thing did _you_ have in mind?" he asked her.

He was also ashamed to admit that he thought this was going to be _fun_. Even the group seemed relatively manageable, even if it took an extra ten-ish minutes to figure out how. They even managed to start getting the Two Unworkables to start helping. Leo had to admit, he and Karai were making a pretty good team already. And she was… kind of _fun_ to work with. It was something about the new attitude. The take-no-crap thing was still there, but he didn't think that last year she would have _dreamed_ of joking about or acting like a normal teenager. He almost felt like they could actually – well – _get along_, if they gave themselves the chance. And Karai seemed more than willing to try.

In fact, when the period ended, she proved she was. Leo was going to go meet his brothers for lunch, but he felt Karai grab the sleeve of his shirt to stop him. When he turned to her, she said quietly, "I know it's been the elephant in the room for a year, but I'd like to… _extend_ our unspoken truce."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry; could you speak up a bit? I think I misheard that."

"Probably not," Karai said, a little louder. "I said I want to extend the truce."

"Why?"

Karai shook her head. "Not now."

"Then how do I know this isn't a trick?"

Karai fixed him with a hard stare. "I'm pretty sure I could think up a better trick than a truce."

Sighing, Leo said, "What sort of an extension?"

"Beyond school."

"Could you be a bit more specific?"

Thinking about it for a moment, Karai said, "As far as possible."

"Meaning…?"

In Japanese, she said, "_Meaning whenever the Foot and the Shredder are not around._"

"_And then you'll be out to kill us?_"

"_As far as they will know._"

Leo sighed and said, "_We wouldn't even need a truce if you left the Foot clan._"

"_You know I can't just do that,_" Karai said, giving him a look, "_and you know why. Even if I wanted to leave, I'd have nowhere to go, and my father –_"

"Fine," Leo said in English. "Truce. But at some point I want you to tell me everything that's going on and where all this is coming from. That clear?"

"Crystal."

They shook on it and parted ways. Leo's hand was still tingling when he explained what had just happened to his brothers.

"A truce?" Raph asked sceptically. "Leo, you have got to be the _dumbest_ –"

"Shut up, Raph," Leo told him. "Karai's honour-bound to keep her word now. This could be a good thing."

"She's also honour-bound to the Shredder," Raph pointed out. Leo moodily ignored him for the rest of the day.

* * *

Donnie was still mulling over Leo's agreement to a truce with Karai when April slid into her seat next to him for AP Biology with a cheery, "Hey, Don. How's your forehead?"

He paused for a long moment in which she thought he might have decided to ignore her before answering, "Much better, thanks."

The conversation seemed to have died already, so they silently prepared themselves for the lesson before April said, "So listen, after everything that happened yesterday, I thought maybe we should start over. Hi," she said, extending her hand, "I'm April O'Neil. My mom died when I was younger and now I live with my single father, who is a scientist."

Chuckling a little, Donnie accepted the handshake and said, "I'm Donnie Hamato. I don't remember my real parents but I live with my adoptive father, who runs a dojo, and my three brothers, who professionally drive me insane."

April tightened her grip on his hand before letting go, and raised an eyebrow. "A dojo, huh? And that brings in enough money to support five guys?"

"You'd be surprised," Donnie said, smiling like her comment amused him. April could see now that he had a small gap in his top row of teeth, slightly off to one side. Wondering about it, but not asking, April watched him push his glasses up his nose and decided that he was definitely not as plain as girls around the school all said he was.

Donnie's jacket was on the back of his chair today, and she realised she had been wrong about something when she first saw him yesterday. She had thought he was tall and lanky, like he'd had a growth spurt but hadn't had the chance to fill out again yet. She realised now that he actually seemed to be quite well-muscled, but he hid them under his clothes. And then her eyes were drawn to his hair again, hair that was strangely long for a boy, and she almost wanted to reach out and touch it.

But she settled for asking about it instead.

"Why do you keep your hair so long?" she asked. "It must be a nightmare."

"I like it," Donnie shrugged. "My brother asked me that yesterday. Are we playing Twenty Questions now?"

"I guess so. I mean, if we're lab partners, we have to get to know each other."

"Alright. Then it's my go and you're down to eighteen."

"What!?" April protested. "That was just one!"

Donnie shook his head. The laughter was back in his eyes, and April decided she would try not to lose it this time. "You asked about the dojo," he said.

Huffing, she replied, "Alright, fine. Your turn. Two questions. Go."

"Why are you taking AP Science? Not that I don't think you're smart enough to!" he added immediately. "I just thought you wanted to be a journalist or something."

"Field reporter, actually," April said. "My dad and I had a deal that I'd give the whole Mad Scientist thing a shot and he'd help me out with college even if I still want to be a reporter. He thinks I'm smart enough for it."

"I think he's right."

April blushed a little bit despite herself.

They continued whispering their game of 20Q to one another as the lesson began. By the time the teacher set them working and they could speak aloud again, April felt like she'd known Donnie much longer than a day. Maybe traversing a sewer with someone had that effect on people.

"Last question," Donnie warned. He had been keeping track in his head. "Make it a good one."

April felt a jolt of inspiration hit her. "What's _Donnie_ short for?" she asked. "Is it short for Donald or something?"

For a terrible second, Donnie's expression closed off, and April thought she'd said something which had upset him again. She'd had so much fun this lesson; she didn't want to go back to one-word answers. But then she realised he was just embarrassed, and he looked down and said, "I'd rather not say."

"It can't be _that_ bad!"

"Of course it's not. I like my name, but it's very… unusual."

"Plenty of people have unusual names. Come on, Donnie. Give me a clue; I'll _guess_ what your name is! Please?"

Donnie sighed. "Alright. If you look at the names my brothers have, there's only one missing, and that's mine. And that's all you're getting," he added, as April was about to protest that his clue didn't make any sense.

"Fine," she said, sulkily admitting defeat… for now. "What's your last question?"

April wasn't sure what to expect. She'd played 20Q with a couple of people who'd asked about the virginity of the other players, or asked for a date or other dumb things. But Donnie just smiled and said, "How's your ankle?"

"Much better. Thanks."


	5. Riddle Me This

**A/N: chapter five, already? … I'm impressed. I feel like I've worked on this story much harder than I usually work on my stories. Well, I **_**have**_**, actually. I've been working really hard to make it good for you! I've snuck in a couple of references here, to the films **_**Donnie Darko**_** and **_**Lockout**_**. If you haven't seen them, I recommend them. They're definitely in my top ten favourites**

**Also, Irma is supposed to be a mix of the 1987 cartoon and 2012 series, and Vern is a mix of April's boss in the '87 cartoon and the character from 2014 movie just because**

**JadeKurosaki: I'm glad you like it so much  
****A girl: Thanks so much!  
****ChatterNoMatter: I feel bad about that but I've kind of been planning that bit for a while… *hides* To be fair, before I got into TMNT I'd only heard of Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci, so maybe April's just not that big on renaissance art. I was actually saving the scene where she gets it for this chapter  
****mistystar123: Thanks so much! Here ya go  
****tmntlover2013: Thank you!  
****Thegirlwholived: Thanks  
****Memmek10k: Thanks. Don't worry, there's more on the way**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Riddle Me This**

_All your pretty things are merely to create the myth  
__That something's going on (on and on)  
__Something's going on (going on and on)  
__I am finding out all about you  
_~ _All About You_ by The Bangles

April loved her friends, but if there was one thing she didn't appreciate, it was when they called to wake her up at seven in the morning on a Saturday. She had been planning to follow up on an idea which had struck her last night as she was about to fall asleep – the answer to Donnie's stupid clue about his name – but now it was looking like she'd have to just write it down and try later. Or sneak away for a few minutes.

Now, normally April wouldn't complain when her best friend, Irma, called and asked her to hang out. But her policy was to feel murderous whenever somebody called her before half past eight and it wasn't an emergency. Irma knew this full-well; she just liked to mess with April.

Reluctantly, April agreed to hang out, but later. She complained that she felt like she'd only had five minutes of sleep, which was an over exaggeration (but that wasn't the point), and went back to sleep.

Three hours later, April found herself walking through New York with Irma, a bespectacled girl with dyed-purple hair, and chatting away happily about school. Irma was going on about how she wasn't sat by any cute boys this year and asked April how her luck had been with seating arrangements so far.

"Uh, not too bad," April said absently, her eyes wondering to the window of an electronics store they were coming up to. The video camera she'd had her eyes on for a month was in there. "I'm next to a couple of the Hamato brothers."

Like everyone else from school, Irma took an immediate interest. "How many, and which ones?" she demanded.

"Three in total," April replied, wondering into the electronics store to take another look at her dream camera. "Raph and Leo are in my Public Speaking elective, and Donnie's my lab partner for AP Science."

"Lab partners, huh?" Irma wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Wait, you said Donnie, right? Isn't he the plain one?"

April surprised herself by catching herself suppressing a growl. There was that _damn_ word again. "He's not plain!" she snapped, rounding on Irma defensively. "He's –"

"Jeez, I'm sorry," Irma said. Then she cocked an eyebrow. "So, he's… what?"

April flushed with realisation. What _was_ she about to say? Smart? Interesting? _Cute_? "Never mind," she said quickly.

"Holy crap," Irma squealed, so suddenly it made April jump. "You _like_ him!"

Finding she couldn't bring herself to deny it somehow, April said, "Shut up."

"Nuh-uh. April, we are having a long, serious talk about this Donnie Hamato. Do you realise how long I've been waiting to be able to have an actual _girl_ talk with you? Especially about guys! I coulda sworn it was finally gonna happen last year when you were doing that story with that dumb Jones guy, but…"

April winced and unintentionally started zoning Irma out. Casey Jones was not exactly someone girl-talk should be done about. He was one of those people who, despite having decent looks and being fun, you had to learn to love. Sure, April still talked to him from time to time, but their personalities clashed on too many levels for her to want to consider –

"Are you actually _listening_ to me?" Irma asked, irritated at having accidentally been ignored. April shook herself out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. My body doesn't really appreciate early mornings," she joked.

"Tough," Irma countered. "Come on. We're going to get something to eat. We have a _lot_ to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Like boys." Irma started dragging April to wherever they were going, and April groaned. It was gonna be a _long_ day.

"I have to go to the library first," she said, hoping to postpone the torture for a bit. "I need to look something up real quick."

It didn't take long to find the book she was looking for. Irma was confused as to why, exactly, she was in the art section grabbing a book on the renaissance, considering she'd never taken too much of an interest in it before. She ignored Irma, though, and flipped through the book until she found a section on the best-known artists of the time, which listed them by name:

Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello.

Okay, that totally had to be what it was. April was looking forward to her victory at school.

"What was that about?" Irma asked as they left.

"Huh? Oh, uh, nothing. Don't worry about it," April lied. She felt bad about it, but she kind of wanted to keep _this_ to herself, too. "Let's go get some lunch and have that girl-talk, alright?"

* * *

**From Angel:  
**_Just got away. Ready to go?_

The text, along with the name and address of the place she wanted to meet up, came through just after lunchtime. Mikey immediately grabbed his skateboard and a soccer ball, and almost forgot to transform into a human before he left. This was going to be his first time hanging out with friends, and he was just so _excited_! He said a quick goodbye to his brothers and father, and left.

"Who's gonna give him a certain talk he's gonna need soon?" Raph asked in a deadpan tone. He and his two remaining brothers instantly replied, "_Not it!_"

Mikey met up with Angel at a park a few blocks away. She wore dirty jeans and a sleeveless hoodie with striped fingerless gloves and spiked bracelets and she… looked… _awesome_!

Angel really _was_ a great soccer player, just like Mikey had thought. She was a real challenge; the other teams would _never_ see this coming! In fact, they got so competitive at one point that Mikey almost forgot he was supposed to hold back with his athletic abilities. He remembered at the last possible minute and pulled back slightly as he kicked the ball, causing him to lose the game they were playing.

"Hey, come on!" Angel exclaimed indignantly. "That's not fair; you _let_ me win that! I want a rematch!"

Mikey felt a smirk growing across his face. "You got it, Angel!"

And then she won the second game anyway. Then they played a third game on the condition that the winner would buy ice cream – yes, the _winner_ – and both tried to out-suckishly-play each other. Mikey ended up buying.

They were discussing tactics over their ice cream (well, _through_ the ice cream in Mikey's case) when Angel's phone rang. Checking the caller ID, she looked nothing short of pissed. Not that it was a bad look on her or anything.

"It's that friend I had to give the slip," she grumbled, reluctantly answering the phone. "Yeah, what? … Jesus, Casey, I'm fine! … No, I'm with a friend from the soccer team … Nonayer business, that's what! … Ugh, fine! I'll be back in a few." She rang off and gave Mikey a what-can-you-do shrug.

"Got caught, huh?" he said. "I remember this one time Raph caught me setting up a prank in his room, and he – well, it wasn't pretty. I'll tell you next time."

"You better," Angel said, getting up. "Thanks for the ice cream."

"Thanks for letting me win," Mikey joked as they left the ice cream parlour. "We should totally do this again some time."

"Definitely. Later," Angel said, giving Mikey a one-armed hug and leaving. Mikey waved until she disappeared round the corner, then headed home, skipping slightly. That had gone well, he decided.

* * *

April did not tell even _Irma_ what had happened in the sewers, or about the turtle, instead implying that Donnie had rescued her from the muggers and hoping he wouldn't mind too much. If only she knew, she would think later, how true that actually rang. But hey, Irma bought it, which was the main thing.

Sure, April felt bad that she hadn't been totally honest with Irma, and selfish because she was keeping things to herself like this, but it turned out she had other things to worry about. When she got home there was an e-mail waiting for her from Vern, the head of the newspaper club, asking her to put an article together for the first issue. She had a deadline of Thursday, so the issue could be put into circulation by Friday.

Ugh. Huffing, April decided she needed a walk to de-stress herself. She promised her dad she'd be back in a couple of hours, grabbed her jacket, and headed out.

The cool air helped clear April's head as she walked, so she took a deep breath in and grumbled to nothing about Vern. She sure as hell was gonna struggle to come up with anything good by Thursday.

As she threw her head back and let out a groan of exasperation, April saw something silhouetted against the dark sky. It was only there for a brief fraction of a second, and if someone who didn't know better had seen it they would have thought it was just a trick of the light, but April definitely saw the figure hop across the gap between two buildings. It took a moment to sink in that it was shaped like a cross between a human and a turtle, with a long staff on its back.

The turtle who had saved her from the muggers!

Keeping her sight on the rooftops, April followed, hoping she didn't lose him. She almost ran into several people and a good few streetlights, but she did her best to keep up. The turtle moved faster than she could even without dodging things on the ground, and she was surprised he wasn't out of sight yet.

Still, April was determined to catch up. She had to thank him properly for saving her, after all. Or even just to see him again, so she'd know she hadn't dreamed up a talking turtle.

Either she lost him, or he stopped, on a rooftop one building over. April hurried to climb the fire escape of the building next to her and scrambled onto the roof. The turtle, on the roof next to the one she was on, seemed to be surveying the streets and roofs beyond. At least, April thought that was what he was doing. She caught her breath and called out and he whipped around to face her, hands flying to the staff on his back. April walked up to the edge of the rooftop she was on, trying not to look down.

"Hey," she called over, "sorry if I surprised you. I wanted to –"

She stopped when the turtle began running straight for her. He made easy work of the space between their two rooftops, clearing it as though it was nothing, and landed smoothly before her.

"What are you –" he began in the falsely gruff voice, but April held up a hand to stop him.

"I wanted to thank you," she said, taken slightly aback by the fact that he was actually there in front of her, "for saving me and Donnie the other day."

"No problem," the turtle said. April saw that the staff he carried was wood this time, and he was wearing elbow and knee pads, and a pair of what appeared to be purple sweatbands. It was hard to tell with the mask on, but she thought his eyes might be brown.

"I didn't tell anyone what happened," she said quickly, worried he might leave suddenly like last time. "You left before I could promise, but I didn't, just like you asked me."

The turtle smiled slightly, and she thought she could see… no, that couldn't be right. It was just the dark playing tricks on her mind.

"Who are you, anyway?" she asked.

"I'm a turtle," the turtle replied. Realising he was joking with her, April smirked.

"I can see that. I want to know your _name_."

The turtle paused briefly and finally said, "Darko."

"No," April said, "I meant your _first_ name."

"Darko," the turtle said again.

"Oh, come _on_!"

The turtle laughed, and this time April _knew_ she'd seen it. There was a gap in the top row of his teeth, slightly to one side. No; that had to be a coincidence.

"Well, I'm April," she said, thinking hard now. The laughter in the turtle's eyes, although the mask made them hard to see, looked familiar. "What if I need your help again? How do I –"

"I'll figure something out," the turtle, or Darko or whatever he was called, said. "You better go home."

He turned her around and steered her over to the fire escape, and she knew there was no point in fighting it. April tensed when his large, three-fingered hands wrapped around her biceps, but he held firmly onto her and she didn't feel threatened. When the turtle's hands broke contact with her, she turned to say goodbye to him, but he was already gone.

Okay. Maybe it wasn't just a coincidence.

* * *

The second she got home, she went through all the DVDs in the apartment, telling her dad she wanted to watch a movie with him. In reality, she was looking for one case in particular. She'd only seen it once, on TV, and she'd only really caught the tail end of it, so she'd decided to buy the DVD, but then she'd forgotten about it until now.

Oh, there it was. _Donnie Darko_.

Okay, maybe there really _was_ no such thing as a coincidence. As the movie played, April sat with a notepad and pen, pretending it was some homework she had to do, and made a list of the similarities between Donnie (who she now knew was actually called Donatello) and the turtle.

For one, they'd both refused to directly tell her their names. Then there were the brown eyes, the gaps in the teeth, the purple sweatbands, and April thought they were about the same height. Come to think of it, had Donnie been wearing elbow pads when he didn't have his jacket on? She couldn't remember.

If _Darko_ had really been a clue, like she thought, then surely that meant the turtle's real name was _Donnie_, and that must mean –

No. No way. It almost made sense, but at the same time it was impossible. They couldn't be the same person. That only happened on TV, right?

April decided she needed to find a way to figure out what was going on.

* * *

Only Donnie and Leo were on patrol tonight. It had been rather quiet lately, so they had reduced their patrols to two at a time instead of all four brothers, and they would split up and use their t-Phones – shell-shaped phones Donnie had designed back when they lived in the sewers – to communicate, especially if there was an emergency or they had to call for backup. Lately the most they'd been hearing over their t-Phones was "Let's head back".

While Donnie was patrolling near their place (and being followed by April O'Neil), Leo headed further afield. For a while he was just looking for anything suspicious. He took a break, sitting on a roof with a small water tower on it. After a few moments he realised he wasn't alone, and instinctively stood up, drawing his swords.

"I thought we weren't doing that anymore," a voice teased from the shadow of the water tower. Karai stepped into the light, wearing what appeared to be a black jumpsuit or catsuit of some kind, with steel armour over it. Leo lowered his swords.

"New outfit?" he called over.

Still walking forwards, Karai said, "It goes better with the new look. Like it?" She struck a slight pose which caused Leo to blush despite his currently reptilian skin.

"It's, uh –" pretty, hot, _sexy_ – "it looks really badass."

"Good," Karai smirked. "That's pretty much what I was going for. You on patrol? Cos I can always come back and bother you later."

"Don't worry, I'm on my coffee break. You on patrol too?"

"Supposedly," Karai said. She sounded bitter about something.

"You're not still pissed about Chaplin, are you?"

"Maybe."

Leo shrugged and returned his swords to his holsters, sitting back down and patting the roof next to him. Karai hesitated and then sat down.

"Plan on telling me what's wrong any time soon?" he asked. Karai just sighed. "Or not," he added.

"I don't hate _Romeo and Juliet_," she said suddenly.

"Uh, okay… where did that –"

"When I called it shit and said it was overdone? I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't want to perform it because I don't want any of us to die."

Somehow Leo knew she wasn't talking about the play anymore. "You realise someone's going to get killed eventually, right? It's the only way for the fighting to stop."

"I know," Karai said. "I just wish there was a way to end it without anyone dying."

"One of our fathers would have to leave," Leo pointed out, "and never come back."

Suddenly Karai got a thoughtful look on her face. Then, slowly – and was that her accent sneaking back into her voice? – she said, "If you felt like your father only saw you as a weapon, how would you feel? What would you do?"

"Splinter wouldn't do that. But… I'd be annoyed, I guess. I'd talk to him about it." Only then did Leo realise Karai wasn't asking what _he_ would feel and do at all. "Karai –"

"Forget about it," Karai said firmly. Her accent was gone now and, moments later, so was she.

Leo blinked a few times, wondering what that was all about. _A weapon_? Where did that come from? What was going through her mind?

He shrugged and decided to head back home, unsure what to think about the exchange that had just taken place or really _anything_ Karai-related that had happened lately. Especially the new armour.


	6. Why Would I Mind?

**A/N: hey guys, back for more are you? Hope you enjoy this one! It's really just going to focus on April and the guys here. If there's anybody out there waiting for Joy to show up, it should only be a couple more chapters**

**Thegirlwholived: Yeah, that just about sums it up. Leo definitely seems to be having a bit of trouble keeping his hormones in check  
****JadeKurosaki: Yeah, April figured it out pretty quickly. Nah, Irma's not gonna be a Kraang in this one, although the Kraang probably WILL make an appearance. And thanks so much!  
****Gumi Langley: Thank you!  
****ZathuraRoy: Thanks, I didn't know how well the different perspectives would turn out so I'm glad you like it  
****A girl: Thanks!  
****Thor-Born: Yeah, it was a bit quick, but I wanted to move the story along and not have her worrying about it too much. Haha, yeah, Casey definitely seems to get around. And thanks, I had a bit too much fun coming up with that bit  
****Memmek10k: Yeah  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much!**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Why Would I Mind?**

_I would not leave you in times of trouble  
__We never could have come this far  
__I took the good times, I'll take the bad times  
__I'll take you just the way you are  
_~ _Just the Way You Are_ by Billy Joel

"_Stop it!_" Donnie cried in Japanese, slapping Raph's hand away from his hair.

"You might not have noticed, Don –"

"How am I supposed to notice anything with you trying to pull my hair out!?"

"– but I think your girlfriend wants a word with you." Raph jerked a thumb over his shoulder and Donnie swallowed hard, trying his best to stop his brain from shutting down. April was walking towards them with a smirk and a purpose.

It was first thing Monday morning. Shouldn't she be with her friends?

The second April reached them, she looked Donnie straight in the eye and said, "I need a favour, _Donatello_."

Donnie was more than thankful for the excuse to glare at his brothers as they (_they_ mostly meaning _Mikey and Raph_, but Leo joined in too) began cat-calling. Hopefully he looked like he was flushed with anger, not blushing because he just _loved_ the way she said his name.

"We'll just give you some space," Mikey said slyly, as he pushed Raph and Leo around the nearest corner. Donnie was pretty confident they were planning to eavesdrop, but he wasn't sure if he should move farther away from them so as not to be overheard, or stay where they were nearby so they could come to his rescue if he forgot how to talk.

"You got my clue after all," he stated, still keeping a suspicious eye on the corner his brothers had vanished around.

"Oh… yeah. But that's not what I need," April said. Donnie was suddenly _very_ aware that he was backed up against the wall of the building and rather trapped. He tried not to squirm uncomfortably.

"So, uh… what _do_ you need?"

April launched into a somewhat unexpected rant about some guy called Vern, who apparently pissed her off to no end, and who ran the newspaper club. Donnie felt a twinge of jealousy when April complained about Vern hitting on her, but relaxed immediately because she didn't like that Vern had hit on her. The rant then switched to how he wanted her to do an article for the first issue with Thursday as her deadline. "…and I have _no_ idea what I'm supposed to write about because when I tried to get in touch and ask him about it he didn't e-mail me back!" she concluded. "So I was thinking, could I stop by the dojo your dad runs some time and do an article on it?"

"Sure," Donnie said, a little too quickly. Then he paused. Cleared his throat. "Uh, I'll call home now and check with him. But it should be no problem."

Donnie made a quick call home, apologising to Splinter for interrupting his meditation and explaining April's situation. In Japanese, of course.

"_I believe Wednesday will be suitable,_" Splinter said thoughtfully.

"_But sensei, you don't run any sessions on –_"

"_Would Miss O'Neil like to stay for dinner, as well?_"

Donnie gulped and turned to April. "How does Wednesday sound? And he'd like to know if you want to stay for dinner."

"That sounds great," April said, visibly relieved. "My dad's out of town for work then. I'd love some company."

Donnie relayed the message to Splinter and rang off. "You're _sure_ you're okay to come over for dinner on Wednesday?" he asked nervously. "Because there's no pressure or anything. You don't have to if you –"

"You are such a _life saver_, Don!" April exclaimed gratefully, pulling him into a one-armed hug which caused him to blush and laugh nervously.

"Oh, uh, it's really no problem…"

The bell rang, and April released him and headed off to class. Raph, suddenly beside Donnie with Leo and Mikey, gave a low whistle.

"I gotta hand it to you and Mikey," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "You two bozos move _fast_."

* * *

Monday and Tuesday night moved just as fast as Mikey and Donnie apparently did. Splinter cancelled patrols and had them practise a routine he had devised, in which they demonstrated basic martial arts moves and then moved on to show off their skills with their chosen weapons.

"Leave it to Splinter," Raph joked at one point, "to be a great dad, a brilliant sensei _and_ a good wingman."

Splinter responded with a rather smug expression.

* * *

Before any of them knew it, it was Wednesday and the boys were walking April back to their place. She stuck by Donnie for the most part, nervous around the others because she didn't know what they thought of her.

Mikey turned out to enjoy talking. A lot. He was in a constant good mood, and he chattered all the way to the dojo. Right now, he was going on about the soccer team and how he couldn't _wait_ for practise tomorrow. April found it was only Donnie the school-wide descriptions of the boys were mistaken on: Mikey really _was_ friendly and adorable. He seemed more innocent than his brothers, especially when they decided to have fun telling April _all_ about the girl he'd already met on the soccer team.

"Sure," April said, "I know Angel. Not very well, but Casey Jones promised her grandma – she lives with her grandma – he'd look out for her so he's kind of like an overprotective big brother… and you went on a date with her," she added, smirking when Mikey's eyes widened in shock.

"No I didn't!" he exclaimed. "It was just a soccer game and –"

"– and ice cream. I know. I'm just teasing."

It didn't take long to reach what appeared to be a dojo with a home built around it. Through the large windows and glass door of the dojo, April could see Japanese paintings, and banners with phrases or sayings of some kind, written in Japanese kanji.

"We'll go get Master Splinter," Leo said, unlocking the door. "You wait in here; we'll be back in a minute."

April found the dojo quite pleasant, and definitely used. Training dummies were piled in one corner, training mats stacked in another, and equipment storage boxes and shelves were against the back wall. On a side wall there was a cork board with several notes, posters and flyers on it, and April went over to inspect the flyers. She could see the corner of a bit of thick, old drawing paper poking out from underneath one of the flyers, and lifted the flyer to see the paper. She discovered a painting the boys must have done when they were children. It was not the best painting, obviously, but it was of a very pretty woman of Japanese origin. It was signed _Raff, Leeo, Mikee and Dony_.

April dropped the flyer and whirled around when she heard the approaching sounds of Mikey babbling away happily and the brothers walked into the dojo with their father, a tall Japanese man with a long nose, dark brown hair and pale eyebrows. He had light brown eyes and wore a reddish-brown robe.

"Miss O'Neil," he said, bowing courteously, "I am pleased to meet you at last."

April returned the gesture and said, "I'm pleased to meet you too, uh…"

"My sons call me 'Splinter'," he said.

"April," April introduced quietly. The boys began drawing the vertical blinds across the windows and Splinter turned on the lights, fetched a mat to sit cross-legged on and indicated for April to join him, which she did.

"I have had my sons practise a special routine," Splinter explained, "which they will perform for you. They are without a doubt my best pupils."

April flushed a little. "You didn't have to do that," she said. "I was just hoping to sit in on a session…"

Splinter waved a hand dismissively and explained that the boys would first demonstrate the moves Splinter taught in his sessions and would then move onto a show of their own ninjitsu skills, whatever that was. It sounded like ninja stuff. "It is," Splinter chuckled, when April voiced this thought. "I have taught my sons all they know of ninjitsu."

"That sounds… really cool," April said.

The boys were already in place, facing them in the middle of the dojo, standing in a line. They looked very serious, even Mikey, and they wore dark sports pants and skin-tight green shirts; and April was surprised to see that Donnie had taken off his glasses. He looked much better without them, April decided. They took up too much of his face. The boys untucked tails of material from their headbands and slid them down over their faces, and April realised they were actually wearing ninja masks. April also realised the masks meant she couldn't properly tell if Donnie's eyes were brown.

April felt her eyes widen for a second before she threw on the best pokerface she could manage. Maybe the kids at school who still read tween books were a bit off the mark, but –

Splinter gave an order in Japanese and the boys began their carefully practised routine. The sudden change in them surprised April. Their movements were fluid and controlled on a different level to at school. They weren't holding back, just this once. They looked so… _relaxed_.

And then there was the part of the routine where they grabbed the weapons which had been set to one side. April grinned at the fatherly pride in Splinter's voice when he explained who had what. Leo was a sword master who could take on the most experienced opponents; Raph was an unchallenged expert with his _sais_; Mikey, for all his joking around, was deadly with the nunchucks; and although he hoped it wouldn't be put to the test, Splinter was confident Donnie could stop bullets with his bo staff.

Bo staff.

Donnie had a _bo staff_.

_Holy shit_.

April didn't mean to interrupt the routine. Honestly, she didn't. She couldn't help the small intake of breath as she realised the bo staff Donnie was wielding was _exactly_ the same as the one the turtle had carried. They _must_ be the same person. She was sure of it now.

Especially since Donnie suddenly looked so _ashamed_, like a kid who'd been caught raiding the cookie jar. He was trying to hide behind Mikey, who was significantly shorter than him. He wasn't even _looking_ at her.

How did he manage to make her feel bad that she'd figured it out? She almost wanted to _apologise_ for it.

"I believe," Splinter said, "that if you swear you will not tell a soul, we owe you an explanation, Miss O'Neil."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, April sat at the kitchen table in the apartment surrounding the dojo, mulling over the story she had just been told about how Hamato Yoshi's feud with Oroku Saki had forced Yoshi to flee to New York City, where he and four turtles mutated and became Splinter, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello. Splinter adopted the turtles and they lived in the sewers, being taught the ways of ninjitsu. When the boys were small they discovered they could turn human for short periods of time; and with some patience and a _lot_ of meditation, they came to a point where they could retain either form indefinitely.

Oroku Saki had come to New York and behind the scenes of his local-celebrity lifestyle, he took on the persona of the Shredder and led the dangerous Foot Clan. His adopted daughter Karai, who April knew by sight, was seemingly second-in-command, although according to Leo she seemed to be having second thoughts and had suggested a truce which she wanted to keep a secret from the Shredder. If Raph's teasing was anything to go by, Leo had a crush on Karai.

The story ended and the four brothers and their father looked at her, waiting for her reaction. April found herself speechless. All she could manage to choke out was, "Can I see?"

They knew what she meant, and transformed. It was strange to watch their features turn rubbery, plastic-like, as it happened, before moulding and settling into a different shape. She understood now why the brothers wore weird jeans and shirts and things: the change in body types as they transformed tore their clothes, and Splinter explained that the velcro-seamed jeans and quick-remove shirts were there so, if they had to, the boys could transform on the fly.

"Does it hurt when that happens?" she asked, standing up to inspect the boys closer. Donnie was still hiding behind Mikey like he was ashamed.

"Nah," Raph said dismissively. "It just feels weird. Kinda…"

"Stretchy?" Mikey suggested.

* * *

So this was it. Now she knew. Now April knew he and his brothers were freaks. Donnie didn't want to see what she thought of him; didn't want to find she was annoyed at him for not telling her he was the turtle who had saved her. He kept behind his brothers and tried not to look at her.

When Donnie and his brothers went upstairs to grab some clothes and transform back to their human forms – more because they weren't used to being in their turtle forms around humans than anything else – he felt April's fingertips brush his bicep as she went to grab his arm and just missed. Still at the back of the group, Donnie paused and reluctantly turned to face her. Splinter excused himself in the background and quickly followed the others upstairs.

Now it was just Donnie and April. Nervousness flashed momentarily across her beautiful face and settled itself in the pit of Donnie's stomach.

"April –" he began.

April's body twitched as though she wanted to move but was unsure. Then she stepped forward and flung her arms around him in a warm hug. For a second he thought his knees were going to give out. He could feel her cheek pressed against his plastron and felt his own cheeks heat up to the point where he thought he might have turned noticeably red.

It took a moment or two to work up the courage to return the hug. He had time to make note of how pleasant it felt to be hugging April, and how small she seemed when he was in his turtle form, before they simultaneously broke the hug and she smiled up at him.

"Thanks," she said, her voice just as warm as the hug. A tidal wave of relief crashed over Donnie.

"Y-you already thanked me," he managed to choke out. "On Saturday, remember?"

April smirked. "Not for that, Donnie. Not even for saving me with the article. I mean, thanks for… _trusting_ me, I guess… enough to be honest with me about all this."

"You mean you really don't mind?" he asked.

"Of course not! This," April said firmly, "is _awesome_. Why would I mind?"

Donnie felt a grin trying to spread its way across his face, but he managed to suppress it into a wide smile instead. He also had to force down the urge to hug April again out of gratitude; instead he thanked her verbally, like a normal person, and went upstairs to 'change' before he fainted. Which, luckily, he managed not to do.

* * *

Barely able to stand, April let herself drop shakily onto the couch. She swore she could still feel Donnie's arms around her; could still hear his heartbeat… but that might have been the blood pounding in her ears. Why had she done that? She didn't hug people, as a general rule; only her dad, and even that was rare. And she wasn't exactly the damsel-in-distress type who fawned all over anyone who so much as helped her with her math homework (not that she needed it, but the unnecessary help was appreciated so she didn't have to suffer alone).

But Donnie had seemed so small – figuratively, of course – lingering at the back of the group. That was probably what he was going for. She needed to let him know that as long as he was still Donnie, she didn't care _what_ he was. It was _who_ he was that was more important to her. Occasionally everyone needed reassuring of that.

Splinter, still in his rat form, was suddenly standing in front of her.

"Thank you," he said, "for accepting my family as we are. My sons and I appreciate it very much… especially Donatello."

April felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Oh, uh… you're welcome."

"If you still wish to stay for dinner," Splinter said, "I believe Michelangelo is ordering pizza as we speak."

The guys were far more talkative now they knew April was okay with them being turtles. Impossible as it seemed, this even went for Mikey. They relaxed and behaved like a bunch of ordinary teenagers… which, to be fair, they were, apart from the mutant thing.

Leo turned out to be a huge _Space Heroes_ fan, so April made a mental note to bring over a couple of the older, rarer box sets she had at home. Raph slapped Mikey around the face with a slice of pizza at one point and it escalated so quickly Splinter had to intervene. Donnie also seemed a lot happier than he had before. He sat next to her the whole time, talking animatedly about some of his science experiments.

_Dad and Donnie would get on great,_ April thought. Then she paused, realising she had technically just thought about introducing a guy to her dad. That thought felt kind of weird.

Finally, reluctantly, April disentangled herself from the group on the couch and said she had to go, and she'd see them tomorrow. Splinter offered to have one of the boys walk her home, but she just thanked him and said she'd be fine. She swapped contact information with the guys and went home.

An hour later, April sat on her couch, freshly bathed and wrapped up in her pyjamas with her laptop on her knees and a mug of hot chocolate next to her. It felt too quiet with her dad out of the house, so she put the TV on for background noise and opened up a Word document to start her article.

_Last Thursday,_ [she wrote] _I was accosted by three creeps with knives. Don't worry; they only wanted my money. Luckily, I was rescued by a citizen of New York who is also a student of a nearby dojo, and the worst I got was a slightly hurt ankle when I tripped over later. Yesterday, I went to the dojo and got to meet the four best students, who performed a routine prepared specially for my visit…_


	7. Plans to Hang Out

**A/N: I feel relatively impressed to have made it this far. There's still so much I have planned, too… huge thanks to Thor-Born for the idea of Joy being a mutant in this AU, it was pretty interesting and I think I can get away with it because this is an AU. The hawk was her spirit avatar in the show so I went with that as her mutant form. Also, **_**Slap Shot**_** reference with the hockey coach's name**

**JadeKurosaki: Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!  
****ZathuraRoy: Okay, I'll try  
****Memmek10k: Thanks!  
****A girl: I'm pleased to know  
****Tmntlover2013: Thank you!  
****Thor-Born: Yeah, definitely a lot of trust. I agree it would've been interesting to see her faint, but I figured that since she already did that in the story and they explained everything first, I'd just move onto something else  
****GamerG8rl1: Thanks!  
****The potatoe one: I'm glad you like my story. AUs are tricky to get right and even trickier to come up with an original (or semi-original) concept for, but I think I did a decent job. Yeah, I wasn't sure how strong I should make the language because they're teenagers, but 'shit' is probably the strongest word I'll use, and I'm pleased you're enjoying the story enough to overlook the swears.**

**What's this? A plot's beginning! Hope you like it!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Plans to Hang Out**

_We don't even have to try  
__It's always a good time  
_~ _Good Time_ by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen

Raph sat in the chair outside the principal's office, arms folded across his chest, glaring at the wall opposite. He shouldn't be getting in trouble for this. He'd saved another student from having the snot kicked out of him, for God's sake! And hey, he'd _tried_ not to get in a fight, but the thug had been _begging_ for it.

He just wasn't thinking clearly. Patrol last night had been strange, and he hadn't slept well. It must be affecting his judgement.

They had come across a new mutant last night. All four of them had been going stir crazy because they hadn't gone on their usual nightly runs, so they'd all gone on patrol when April left. Obviously Donnie had insisted they trace her route home, to make sure she got back okay, and she'd been fine. Luckily no-one turned up to give her trouble.

It was about half an hour later when they'd spotted something strange. From a distance it appeared to be a large hawk, but closer up they could see it was another mutant. It was much larger than an actual hawk and it was fairly humanoid, like someone had glued feathers to every inch of their body; but at the same time it was blatantly an actual bird. The wings ended in feathered hands and the legs were thick and humanesque, ending in birdlike feet. Other than the beak and feathers, the face was human and feminine, with brown eyes and gold feathers on the head, almost like hair. The hawk-mutant had landed on a roof and watched as they approached, but flew off once they tried to communicate. It didn't seem particularly hostile or friendly… more like it didn't know what to make of them.

The feeling was mutual.

Raph had struggled to sleep, wondering who the new mutant was. Leo had said something about how maybe they could get the mutant on their side and have a bit of help from the skies if they needed any.

Unlike Donnie, who functioned better when lacking sleep than he did on a full night, Raph got grumpy and tense when he hadn't slept enough. It impaired his already flawed judgement, so he hadn't walked away when the thug had decided to take a swing at him.

In Raph's defence, he had tried to get the guy to talk it out, but it _did_ feel good to hit something. And the goon wasn't even in the hospital! He'd be fine; wouldn't even miss any school. Noses healed… and so did black eyes. _Ego doesn't heal as easily, though,_ Raph thought smugly.

At least the kid he'd saved had snuck over to thank him a couple of minutes ago. That feeling made up for most of whatever he'd let himself in for.

Finally Raph was called into the principal's office and told to explain his side of the story, so he told how he'd been walking down the hall when he'd seen some big ugly thug picking on some scrawny little kid. He'd left out _how_ he knew the shaved gorilla was about to hit the kid – he couldn't exactly mention that his intensive ninja training taught him to recognise these things without even thinking about it – and the fact that he'd seen red when he spotted the Purple Dragon tattoo on the thug's neck. Next time he saw that worthless street gang he was going to –

"You're very lucky," the principal said. "Coach Dunlop saw the whole thing. I've phoned your father but you won't be suspended or sent to the school psychologist… provided you try out for the hockey team."

Raph let out a sigh of relief. If he got himself suspended, Leo would run him through with his own _sais_. After Splinter was done chewing him out. "Why me?"

"Jones is the team enforcer, but Coach Dunlop says he's needed on the rink. They need another good fighter to be another enforcer. How does that sound?"

Raph smirked. "When do I try out?"

"Tomorrow. After school. You can go now."

Raph was still surprised he hadn't got in more trouble, but Splinter and Leo would kill him anyway, and at least it was known that he was in the right here.

Now he could go back to worrying about who the shell that mutant was.

* * *

_Breathe, Donnie. Just breathe. You got this; the others all said so. And you freaking _hugged_ her yesterday. All you have to do is look her in the eye and –_

But then he actually _did_ look up at April, and he felt panic set in as he realised he had completely forgotten what he was going to ask her. He knew it was something important, or else he wouldn't have been worrying about it, but he was drawing a blank. All he could remember was that _she_ had hugged_ him_ – had actually chosen to _hug_ him – and that she _accepted_ who and what he really was. Better yet, she thought he and his brothers were _cool_.

But he still couldn't remember what he was going to ask her.

No, seriously. What _was_ he going to ask?

"Donnie?" April asked, sliding into her seat next to his. _God_, she looked cute when she bit her bottom lip like that. "Can we maybe… hang out after school again? That was really fun."

Donnie smiled in relief, his memory finally coming back to him. "Actually," he said, "I was just about to suggest that."

"Great! So… meet me after the newspaper club? I'm just gonna stay long enough to let them read my article."

* * *

"I still think you should've called and told me," Vern said. "Call me paranoid, but I like to know when one of the best reporters on the team gets mugged."

"I wasn't mugged!" April exclaimed. "I'm fine, Vern! I don't even have any bruises anymore!"

"You still should've let me know as soon as you got home."

"Oh really? And what would you have done? Hmm?" There was no reply, so April snapped at Vern to just run the damn article, then said she had something important to do, and left before anyone could argue.

Vern could be such an ass at times. No, actually, that was wrong: Vern could be stuck right up his own ass at times. Especially when he was trying to play the hero, which thankfully wasn't something he saved exclusively for her. It really got on her nerves when he was like that, in a _very_ bad way. But this club would be helpful on a college application or even on a CV, so usually she just shut up and glared at him.

She knew he overreacted because he liked her. The day she joined, Vern had asked her on a date. April had, of course, turned him down. Sure, he was fairly attractive, taller than her and well-dressed, but she just wasn't interested in him. His flirting, trying to get more dates and all that crap really bugged her.

April felt bad the second she thought that; not for Vern, but for Donnie. Splinter wasn't the only one who had taken it upon himself to tell her that Donnie liked her, but he _was_ the most subtle about it. Each time, she had felt her face heat up and her heart momentarily thump; but then she had pushed it aside, deciding to think about it later. Well, now seemed like a good enough time.

Things _did_ make more sense, now she knew. It certainly explained Donnie's upset when she had accidentally implied that she was just talking to him in the hopes of getting her interview (which she had forgotten to tell the newspaper club she wouldn't be doing anymore… oops). She was glad Donnie didn't know she knew, because it took the pressure off her to make a decision either way.

But if, hypothetically of course, Irma was right about April liking Donnie, was that really so bad? Donnie was sweet, likeable, smart, he and his family were _really_ cool, and overall April didn't think she would mind going on a date with him. Hypothetically, of course.

She smiled to herself when she saw he was waiting for her by the school gates. He was texting someone with a frown on his face.

"Hey April," he said, looking up from his phone and grinning. "How'd your club go?"

April grimaced. "They're gonna run the article, but Vern's in a mood."

"So is Raph," Donnie chuckled. "He got in a fight today."

"I heard about that. Someone was going round calling him a hero for saving the kid."

"That'll go straight to his ego," Donnie joked. "Sensei's making him help out at the dojo next week, instead of going on patrol, as punishment." Putting his phone away, he added, "Leo says to stay clear of the house for a couple hours. It isn't pretty."

The guys had explained to her about their patrols of the city. As they set off, April said, "How'd patrol go last night?"

"Not bad." Donnie dropped his voice as a small group of seniors walked past. "We encountered a new mutant."

"Your side, or…?"

Donnie shrugged. "Neither, we think. Why don't we go somewhere and I'll explain?"

"Sure," April smiled. "Wanna get something to eat? I know somewhere that's kinda quiet."

She couldn't help her amusement as Donnie's cheeks turned red and he stammered out, "S-sure, sounds good."

But she was pleased with herself for managing not to add, "It's a date."

* * *

"So what's the story behind that prank?"

That was the first thing Angel said to Mikey as they headed to the soccer field for practise. He jogged his memory a little and smirked.

"Oh man, it was gonna be totally _sweet_!" he gushed. "I was in the middle of rigging up his bedroom – the _whole_ room – but he got home early and caught me. He made me set everything off myself and then kicked my butt." He left out the part about being jabbed in the butt with one of Raph's _sais_. And the scar he still had from it.

Angel winced sympathetically. "That seems kinda harsh."

"Eh, not really," Mikey shrugged. Either way, the result of the prank had been a thing of beauty, even if it had missed its intended target. "I have a hard shh… uh, skull." Phew. That was a close one. "How much trouble did you get in for sneaking off on Saturday?"

"Not much. I got lectured for a bit but I'm not grounded or anything. Wanna go warm up?"

Mikey agreed and they began jogging up and down the soccer field. "Saturday was fun," he commented.

"Yeah. We should totally hang out again some time. As friends, of course."

"Friends? Really?" Mikey asked excitedly. Angel would be his first friend outside of the family. Well, there was April, but she had been Donnie's friend first… and anyway Donnie had saved her from getting mugged, so she had to like him and, by extension, all of his family. Angel was the first friend Mikey had made on his own.

"Dude, we played soccer in the park. We went for ice cream! Of _course_ we're friends!"

The two of them exchanged grins.

* * *

Soccer practise went great. The team trudged out of the school still in their soccer gear, with mud all up their legs and the decision in their collective minds not to shower until they got home. Mikey had won a penalty shootout tournament when he got a bit too competitive with Angel and forgot to hold back, but Angel had beat him fair and square when they had to race to dribble a soccer ball between cones, slalom-style.

"You wanna hang out again this weekend?" Mikey asked as he and Angel began walking together.

"Sure," Angel said, grinning. "How about –"

"_Angel_!" yelled a third voice. Angel looked back, saw who it was, and said a word even _Raph_ would have winced at, and he had probably contributed like a hundred dollars to the swear jar last year. The guy running to catch up with them was older, tall and lanky (at least as tall as Donnie) with black hair and half his front teeth missing. He looked irritated.

"Go away, Casey," Angel growled. Mikey suddenly began to wonder if he should find a way to leave without just vanishing.

"Ya' were supposed to wait for me at the school," the guy said, catching up to them. Now Mikey recognised him as Casey Jones, star of the school's ice hockey team. Hadn't April said something about him being like Angel's overprotective big brother?

Uh-oh. What if he got the wrong idea about her and Mikey? They were just friends, but –

"I don't need you walking me home," Angel huffed. "I'm not a little girl anymore! And it's not like I'm stupid enough to go anywhere dangerous on my own!"

Casey didn't seem to care. He was too mad at Angel for not waiting for him. "How am I supposed to make sure you're okay if ya' keep running away from me?"

Angel's eyes flashed dangerously. "I can handle myself, _dad_!" she shouted mockingly. Then she ran off, going so fast Mikey swore he saw sparks flying up where the studs on her soccer shoes hit the sidewalk. Mikey and Casey found themselves walking side-by-side, looking at one another uncomfortably.

"You're the guy she was with on Saturday, right?" Casey asked, breaking into the awkward silence. Mikey squirmed a little, suddenly feeling interrogated.

"Uh, yeah…"

Casey looked him up and down in a way that made him squirm again, then nodded approvingly and said, "She could do worse."

Then he tore off after Angel, leaving Mikey stunned and blinking in confusion. What the shell was _that_ supposed to mean?

* * *

Leo was pretty sure Donnie and Mikey hadn't believed him when he said he wanted to split up on patrol and see if they could spot the hawk-mutant, but he was also pretty sure they didn't care. Donnie was still floating around with hearts in his eyes because April had asked to hang out again tomorrow with all of them, and Mikey was still confused over the incident with Casey Jones. Leo, on the other hand, had plans to meet with Karai again.

She had passed him a note yesterday in English class, asking him to meet up with her in the same place as Saturday. He had passed a note back saying he couldn't make it and somehow they had ended up agreeing to meet today instead. Leo thought the notes made it sound like she was irritated and needed to get it out of her system, in which case it made sense because he couldn't imagine the Shredder being someone anybody would want to turn to in a state of emotional turmoil. Raph had jokingly suggested she might try to jump him. Leo had laughed it off, but the way she'd been acting lately, he wasn't sure he'd put it past her.

Still, provided she didn't try to shove her tongue down his throat or her sword through his plastron, it couldn't do _too_ much damage to meet up with Karai. At the very least, he might find out more about what was troubling her. The weapon comment from Saturday still concerned him. He made a quick stop to kick the crap out of some Purple Dragons who had just mugged someone, threw the woman's purse to her from the shadows and continued on his way to the place he was supposed to meet Karai.

She greeted him with, "Haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been busy," Leo replied. "Family stuff."

Karai snorted. "Lucky you. We better make sure you haven't lost your touch. Spar with me."

Leo drew his swords. "That sounds do-able."

Leo was right: Karai seemed to be working out a lot of frustration as they sparred. By the end of it, she appeared a lot less tense. They sat down side-by-side, looking out over the city.

"I think I'm losing my touch," he joked. "Don't get too cocky, but you nearly beat me."

"It happens when all you do is train," she said begrudgingly. She definitely didn't sound too pleased about it.

"That can't be _all_ you ever do."

Karai shot him a look which said it was.

"So… you mean you've never done kid stuff?" he asked, trying to imagine her as a little girl.

"I have a couple of games consoles in my room, if that's what you mean," Karai said, in a voice which suggested she was trying to joke but still feeling bitter. "Don't worry. They're not stolen."

Leo tried to imagine her sitting on a couch or the foot of a bed somewhere, screaming some of the more creative things he and his brothers shouted when they played videogames. Suddenly he realised he needed to move the conversation on before he started laughing at the mental image. "I meant proper kid stuff. Like… going to the park. Or, say, the movies."

"No," Karai said blankly.

"What about fairs? Festivals? Trick-or-treating?"

"Did _you_ ever do those things?" Karai asked sceptically.

"Sure," Leo said, "all the time. We used to sneak off to the park at night sometimes. And before we could turn human for extended periods of time, we used to just wear bulky clothes to the movies and fairgrounds and festivals and stuff."

"And let me guess," Karai added, "you can walk around as yourselves on Halloween because everybody thinks you're in costume."

Leo sighed at her flat tone. "Come on, Karai, I'm trying to help you here. You'll feel better if you talk to me about what's wrong. And don't just get up and leave again," he added, when he noticed her muscles tense as though she was about to get up.

"Maybe I don't want your help," she said, jaw set, not looking at him. "I just needed to get out of the house for a bit. I don't want to talk about it and I don't want to hear about all the crap I missed out on as a kid."

_Now we're getting somewhere,_ Leo thought. "I've got an idea. How about a deal?" Karai tilted her head to show she was listening, so he continued, "For every time you talk to me about whatever's going on with you, I'll take you to do something you missed out on." Karai turned to him so sharply, with such a strange look on her face, he thought it over real quick and blushed. "I heard it when I said it. Don't –"

Too late. Smirking and sounding like she was restraining laughter, Karai said, "Did you just ask me on a date?"

"I didn't mean it like –"

"Asking the daughter of the enemy on a date," Karai tutted mockingly. "How could you, Leonardo? What would our fathers say?"

Realising she was joking, Leo said, "_My_ father would tell me I'm an idiot but that I should follow my heart. _Your_ father would come after me with a shotgun."

Karai laughed. "I don't know about that, but he sure wouldn't like it if I said yes." She paused. "Does ranting count?"

"I… I guess so."

"Good. I need to rant about Chaplin."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"He's driving me up the _wall_!" she exclaimed. "I mean, you've seen what he's normally like, but he's been _worse_ since he got hired on at Saki Enterprises!"

"Worse how?"

"You know how he's always being overly friendly to me? Like he's trying to subtly get a date?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "He's doing that _even more_ now, but not like he thinks he's got a chance because he works with my father. I mean, Shredder loves him, but it's like –" she cut herself off.

"Like what?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like he thinks it's his last chance," Karai said. Leo looked at her and nearly threw his arms around her. She was frowning, but not out of annoyance. It was almost as though she didn't know what was going to happen. As though it _scared_ her. And he wanted to comfort her; to tell her it'd be alright. But he didn't know enough to be able to honestly say it _would_.

"Is this about the weapon thing?" he asked carefully. "The thing you mentioned on Saturday?"

Karai shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe."

The silence that followed seemed to stretch on forever. A terrible feeling of foreboding washed over Leo. The Shredder wouldn't _kill_ his own daughter, adopted or not, but his grudge with Master Splinter completely overruled his compassion and honour.

Finally Karai said, "I have to go. I was due back five minutes ago." She drew her sword and nicked her cheek with the blade. "There. If anyone asks, we were fighting, not sparring. And you owe me a trip to the park."

"See you tomorrow."


	8. Girls (and Fighting)

**A/N: I feel relatively impressed to have made it this far. Hopefully I haven't put too many of you off yet**

**Memmek10k: Yeah, looks like it's going well… maybe I should shake things up a bit  
****JadeKurosaki: Don't worry, Raph will get a date soon enough… yeah, Shredder's being a jerk. I have so many plans for this story there may need to be more than one. Or, you know, this could just be one really long story  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks, I will!  
****The potatoe one: You're welcome… like I said they're teenagers so I figured there should be some degree of strong language, but I'm trying to only use it when it's appropriate. I'm glad you're enjoying the story still, and yeah, Mikey's a bit clueless about girls. Yeah, Raph and Casey on the hockey team sounds fun, if a little bit worrying  
****Qet: Thanks!**

**I'm really sorry if this feels like a slow update (it does to me). It would've been done sooner, but I had to spend a whole day sick in bed because there's a cold going around at my college. My head felt so bad I couldn't even read a book, let alone get on my laptop to write the chapter. But to make up for it, here's a Leorai almost-date, a bit of Apritello and the beginnings of RaphxJoy**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Girls (and Fighting)**

_It's the eye of the tiger  
__It's the thrill of the fight  
__Rising up to the challenge of our rival  
_~ _Eye of the Tiger_ by Survivor

If, as soon as a couple of weeks ago, you had told April O'Neil she would finish getting ready for school on the second Friday back and be told by her dad that four boys were waiting for her outside their apartment building, she would never have believed you. Especially not if you specified that they were the Hamato brothers. But that was exactly what happened.

She was just pulling on her shoes when her dad called out to her from the kitchen.

"April? Do you know there are four boys waiting for you outside?"

She didn't even need to ask to know who they were. "They're just some new friends, dad," she said, grabbing her school bag and leaving her room.

"The ones you went to see on Wednesday? And last night?"

"It was just Donnie last night." As soon as she said it, she flushed. Oh God, why did she have to say it like _that_!?

"Donnie?" her dad asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah… I sit by him in AP Science. Gotta go, love you, bye." She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and left as quickly as possible. Geez, how embarrassing! If Irma was here, she'd have a fit!

Speaking of Irma, April wouldn't be able to keep blowing her off for long. She already felt guilty about spending so much time with the guys when the only time she would really hang out with Irma after school was for study sessions. But Irma always threw a big Halloween party every year, and she liked to plan them well in advance, so there was an excuse to hang out with Irma right there.

But right now, she had four ninjas to walk to school with.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" she asked the second she was out of the building. Mikey was bouncing around on the balls of his feet already, looking like he had some important news. Raph (who was wearing a sweater) looked annoyed, specifically at Leo, who looked guilty. Donnie seemed pretty entertained with whatever was going on, but he was hanging at the back of the group again.

"Do you want to walk to school with us?" Donnie asked, his cheeks reddening slightly. "We have something to –"

"Leo's got a date," Mikey blurted, unable to contain himself. Leo flushed angrily while April raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's not _like_ that," Leo hissed. "I'm gonna stop telling you guys things one day."

"Yeah," Raph said sarcastically, "and I'm gonna stop pulling Donnie's hair to piss him off."

Oh. Well at least that explained why Donnie was hanging at the back. It was probably a good choice. April almost wished she was brave enough to have a go at pulling Donnie's hair. She had noticed yesterday that she was developing some sort of fixation with it.

Irma would have a field day if she found out.

"What happened?"She asked as they began walking.

Leo explained about meeting Karai last night and offering to take her to the park if she talked to him about what was going on. April listened patiently to his story, reached into her bag, pulled out a magazine, rolled it up and smacked him across the face with it.

The others cheered.

"Are you _crazy_!?" April exclaimed.

April's grandfather used to have a dog that, towards the end, had bladder problems and used to have accidents in the house. The dog would hide, ashamed. A very similar expression to the one that dog used to wear in those moments was spreading across Leo's face right now.

_And he damn well _should_ feel like that,_ she thought indignantly. Oroku Karai was the Shredder's daughter, and hadn't she just been told two nights ago that the Shredder was trying to kill them? Leo couldn't help who he liked, of course, and from what April could tell, Karai was sticking to the truce she had proposed… Karai was (Leo explained) big on honour, after all. But April decided she herself would rather be cautious.

"You're a moron," Raph agreed.

"You weren't there," Leo said, exasperated. "You didn't see her; you didn't _hear_ her! She was…" he trailed off, looking for the right words. April tried to read his expression.

Suddenly, an image jumped to the front of her mind. It was night, and she sat on a rooftop above the city, watching the lights. Cars and people sped past beneath her. Sitting next to her was a pretty, pale girl of Japanese persuasion, with short dark hair and brown eyes. The girl frowned in confusion, thought and well-hidden dread. Even _April_ felt sorry for Karai. The feeling made her head hurt.

"April!" Donnie exclaimed, getting concerned when April stopped walking and gripped her head. He fell back, too, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," April said. "Just a headache. Leo, I guess it doesn't matter. Just… be careful."

Leo looked more relieved than she had expected him to be.

"Any luck finding that new mutant?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"We didn't see anything," Mikey said apologetically, staring at the ground.

"You know," April said slyly, "I may not be a trained ninja, but I _am_ going to be a field reporter one day. I know a few ways I can find information without outright asking people if they've seen a mutant flying round. Want me to see what I can do?"

The boys brightened. Even _Raph_ looked like he could've hugged her.

"That would be great," Leo said.

"Use your spy skills, girl!" Mikey exclaimed.

Donnie was about to say something, but Raph turned to punch him on the shoulder and said, "You sure know how to pick 'em."

April and Donnie both turned red.

Trying to change the subject again, she said, "By the way, Raph, I have a bet on you to last longer than fifty-eight seconds against Casey Jones tonight. That's the record. And if I lose that bet, you're _dead_."

Raph laughed. "Don't worry, Ape. I got a thick shell."

"And Casey has a thick _skull_. The last guy who headbutted him broke his _own_ helmet."

They walked into school, laughing. Mikey joked at one point about selling tickets and earned himself a smack to the back of the head.

As they walked into the school, April firmly in the middle of the group, staring and voices began.

"Look at that!"

"What?"

"Isn't that April O'Neil with the Hamato brothers?"

"What? Did they walk to school together or something?"

"I don't know. I guess."

The guys had more experience with tuning out gossiping voices than April, and she wondered if they were succeeding where she was failing. Not that she could blame the other kids: even _she_ wasn't sure how, in the space of just under a week and without really meaning to, she had befriended a group of highly trained mutant ninjas to the point at which they were walking her to school. That sort of thing had '_GOSSIP AND RUMOURS_' written all over it in big, flashing neon capital letters.

And for once she was causing it, not investigating it.

Not convinced she liked the attention, April did her best to ignore the stares and subconsciously walked closer to Donnie than the others.

* * *

"I need your reporter skills," Casey Jones said as he hopped onto the low brick wall April sat eating her lunch on.

_You aren't the only one,_ she thought. "Do you really?"

"There's this kid Angel's been hangin' 'round with –"

"Oh, for the love of –" This was not the first time Casey had wanted her to help him stick his nose in Angel's business. He really cared for the kid, but he was seriously overdoing it. No wonder she kept sneaking off. "Didn't I already tell you last time I wasn't going to dig up the track record on every new friend Angel makes?"

"Yeah, but –"

"Don't you have a fight to get ready for?" April asked. This loosely translated into _go away now_.

"I'll be fine," Casey said flippantly. "Anyway, this kid. He was walking home with Angel yesterday but I don't know his name. About this big, blonde hair, freckles –"

"Mikey Hamato," April said. "He doesn't take things seriously most of the time but he's nice. I don't know what _you_ think is happening between them but he's kinda naive, so he probably doesn't see it the same way you do. He's my friend," she added pointedly, seeing the remaining scepticism on Casey's face.

"So he's alright, then," Casey said, as if to clear it up. He knew April wouldn't befriend anyone she didn't trust.

"He's insane, but yeah, he's alright. I think he likes her; he just doesn't know it yet."

Casey looked relieved. "She could definitely do worse," he said decisively. She wished him luck in the fight with Raph – he was going to need it – and he left as Irma turned up.

"Is it true you walked to school with the Hamato brothers today?" Irma demanded.

"Maybe," April replied mock-evasively.

"Are you going out with Donnie yet?"

"_Irma!_"

* * *

Raph strutted into the rink and laughed as soon as he saw Mikey shivering in his usual orange basketball shirt. Mikey had laughed at him for wearing a sweater to school, but even Leo and Donnie were carrying jackets. Their blood was sort of luke-warm, so they weren't as cold as they _would_ have been if they couldn't turn human, but they were colder than the other kids. Leo was also carrying a camcorder so Splinter could see the fight.

"Cold, Chuckles?" he teased. Mikey narrowed his eyes.

"N-no," he lied, shivering violently. "I'm f-fine. Just a b-bit ill." He gave a fake cough.

"Borrow Don's jacket," Raph instructed, strapping on a pair of skates and hiding a grin behind a smooth pokerface. "He looks plenty warm."

It was true. Donnie had evidently been roped into helping April with whatever she was doing, because she was in the middle of throwing a stopwatch around his neck while he held a notepad and a pencil for her. He was blushing and – no way; it couldn't possibly be Raph's imagination – what was that look she was giving him? It was sort of a warm, friendly smile.

Or was it a soft smile? (Raph wasn't the best at reading these emotions.)

Did that mean April liked Donnie, or was he just confusing himself?

Should he say something?

_Nah_. Those two dorks could sort it out themselves.

The crowd turnout, Raph realised as he moved onto the ice, was pretty good. He scanned the crowd and near the front there was a pretty blonde in a green jacket, who looked to be in the year above him. She looked like she had come deliberately to see the fight, unlike most of the other girls present (there were very few), who appeared to have been dragged along by boyfriends and male relatives.

Raph's ninjitsu training had given him good balance, but he was no skater. He could get moving without falling over, but stopping wasn't something he knew how to do. And from experience he already knew he couldn't hit a puck to save his life (which, thankfully, he'd never had to do before). Luckily Coach Dunlop, a guy in his fifties, and Jones, were already on the ice. They helped him stop, and Coach Dunlop said they could teach him to skate.

"Jones, this is Hamato," Coach Dunlop said. "Hamato, this is Jones."

Raph and Casey shook hands. Coach Dunlop explained the rules of hockey fighting: slashing, high-sticking and a series of other things which included biting and obviously kicking, were all off-limits. Hip-checks, body-checks and punching were all fair game.

_Good,_ Raph thought. _I know how to do those things._

Coach Dunlop backed off. There was a second where neither Raph nor Casey was sure what to do. Then the fight began.

Casey swung a fist at Raph, who ducked and almost overbalanced. He wobbled, pulled himself together and punched at Casey, who slid back an inch or two while Raph almost overbalanced again. Casey grabbed the shoulder of Raph's sweater, keeping him within punching distance while making it hard to _be_ punched.

Keeping Raph upright.

Raph was temporarily thrown off by a punch to the side of the face, but then he jammed a hand into the inside elbow of the arm holding him up, grabbing the arm with his other hand and pulling hard. Casey's elbow unlocked and he was thrown forward, into Raph's waiting fist, which got him squarely on the nose. They both staggered back and then came at each other again.

The fight ended with a fairly surprised Hamato Raphael on his back and Donnie yelling over, "Three minutes twenty-three!"

Raph was impressed with himself _and_ Jones. He'd like to see how Casey did on _his_ turf, though, he thought as Coach Dunlop returned. He managed to get into a sitting position before Casey's bloody-knuckled hand came into view to help drag him to his feet. Raph was pleased with the amount of damage he had done. Jones had a split lip, a black eye, a bloodied nose and a swelling cheek.

Raph himself had a couple of bruises and a cut above his eyebrow that would need a couple of stitches if he was an ordinary human, but he didn't know that just yet. Some of his more minor injuries had already healed themselves, because his mutant DNA gave him accelerated healing abilities.

"Not bad," Coach Dunlop said, clearly impressed. "We'd love to have you on the team, kid."

"Yeah," Casey agreed. "Few skatin' lessons with the right teacher and you'll be a _hell_ of an enforcer. I could teach you a few tricks about fightin' on the ice, too. Couldn't hurt anyone on _our_ team. Ya sure throw a mean punch," he added, rubbing his jaw where Raph had got him _good_.

"And who's supposed to teach me? A numbskull like you?" Raph bantered.

"Takes one numbskull to train another."

Raph smirked. He had a feeling he was going to like this bozo.

* * *

The introduction of April O'Neil into their secret lives, Splinter thought, was definitely a beneficial move.

Donatello was certainly pleased with the way events had transpired. Splinter had observed the closeness between the two of them. Already she was bringing Donatello out of his shell, figuratively speaking. In reality, this meant he was slowly becoming more sociable. Splinter was more than grateful for this.

Leonardo had discovered (and was now using to their advantage) the largest benefit of her skills as a reporter. In fact, she had already set up a message board through a fake e-mail address, asking if any citizens of New York had seen any unusual animals at night. Splinter was not sure how well it would work, but it was one of the many tricks April said she planned to put into action.

Michelangelo was certainly enjoying having a human friend with whom he did not have to pretend he was human himself… although judging by the awed way in which he spoke of a girl called Angel, he would, presumably, soon have another. Although he knew not to speak openly and to everybody of their true identities, Michelangelo was not the best secret-keeper.

And as for Raphael…

As Splinter came around the side of the building just behind his son, to open the dojo for the after-dinner session, it became clear that Raphael was already enjoying the benefits of the extra publicity brought to the dojo by April's article. The group awaiting them was larger by at least five, all of whom attended the same school as his sons and one of whom appeared to have caught Raphael's eye.

She was taller than Raphael, and older than him by perhaps a year. Her blonde hair was neat and shoulder-length, eyes keen and brown, and she wore green martial-arts clothes. Her muscles and stance suggested to Splinter that she already knew martial arts.

As Raphael's eyes swept over the group, they alighted on the girl again and his posture turned… amorous.

Well, well, well. This _was_ interesting. Raphael, who always teased his brothers for their feelings towards the girls they had taken interest in, was finally taking an interest in someone.

Well, one was never too old to play Matchmaker. Splinter had vowed years ago that he would do what he could to ensure his sons were safe and happy; and he planned to keep this promise as long and far as possible. Noting that the group was now at an odd number, he ushered them inside and asked who, of the newcomers, had previous experience with martial arts.

As expected, the blonde girl who had caught Raphael's eye raised her hand almost immediately. Her name was Joy Reno, and she had previously trained with another dojo, but had been unable to continue her training as classes were only available for people up to a certain age.

Splinter split the group into pairs, instructing Joy Reno to pair up with Raphael and demonstrating sparring techniques. Then he instructed the pairs to spar so he could assess their abilities (also so Joy and Raphael could get to know one another, although he did not mention this).

As it was, he and his sons were blessed in that they could live a (somewhat) normal life as many humans would. And was it not, after all, his duty as a father which had caused him to vow to help ensure his sons' happiness in any way he could?

Splinter watched Raphael and Joy from the corner of his eye for a moment, and smiled to himself. They spoke and bantered as they sparred, and Splinter could see the admiration and respect on his son's face. For now, further assistance did not appear necessary… although if he could figure out how to work a t-Phone, he would have texted his other sons immediately (Splinter was not the best with modern technology).

* * *

Raph made a mental note to thank Splinter later. He could tell by the smug smirk on Dear Old Dad's face that he and Joy would've been partnered together with or without her previous experience in martial arts. Leave it to Splinter to be a good wingman, right?

"You're pretty good," he told Joy. "How long you been training?"

"Since I was six," Joy said. "What about you?"

"Pretty much all my life," Raph shrugged. Joy seemed impressed.

"Saw you fight Jones today," she said, and Raph realised she must have been the pretty blonde he had seen in the crowd. "You didn't fight like _this_," she added. "Pulling your punches?"

"Trying not to fall. But we can't have anybody finding out about our dad running this dojo, can we? We'd be overrun."

Joy laughed and Raph felt a twinge of satisfaction. "Yes," she teased sarcastically, "because all your fangirls are _so_ into martial arts."

"You're here, aintcha?" Raph countered, equally teasing.

"How about we call it a happy coincidence and say we're even?"

A happy coincidence… that was definitely the right word choice. And she had said it first, so did that mean she liked him?

A horrifying thought hit him. Did Splinter know he liked Joy?

Oh shell… Splinter was bound to tell his brothers. And the inevitable teasing he would get was gonna _kill_ him. Sure, he had teased them a lot, so maybe he _kinda_ deserved it, but they were almost certain not to let this go when they had the chance.

And Splinter wasn't just a great wingman. He was also an excellent troll.

Ah, crap. He was so _dead_. He'd just have to hope Donnie, at least, would understand.

This was called karma, wasn't it?

* * *

Just after dinner, which consisted mainly of avoiding the pizza toppings Mikey had added, Leo donned his jacket, put a couple of collapsible swords (they opened like lightsabers; another of Donnie's brilliant designs) in the pockets, and headed out. The others, even Splinter (who would begin the after-dinner dojo session in about ten minutes), knew where he was going, but it remained unspoken.

The park where he and Karai had agreed to meet was only a few blocks away. The sun was already beginning to set, and the only other person in sight was Karai. She leaned against the fence surrounding the park, waiting, in her jacket and a pair of faded jeans.

"Let's go on the swings," Leo suggested, and they did. He pushed himself back and forth with his heels and said, "I was half-expecting there to be Footbots around."

Karai snorted, mimicking his movements. "Like I'd let my father's dumb robots ruin my first visit to a park."

"Wait, first? As in, _ever_?"

Karai shrugged and swung herself a bit, offering him a warm-ish smile. "I never had the guts to go on my own. So… thanks, I guess."

There was a short silence after that, somewhere between comfortable and awkward. Attempting to break it, Leo said, "Splinter used to bring us here at night, when there were no humans around. It's perfect for a bunch of kids training to be ninjas. Like a ready-made obstacle course."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah." Leo allowed the nostalgia to overtake him, and swivelled around on the swing to point out the things he remembered best. Look, there was the slide Mikey used to run up, trying to reach the top, but it had always been too high for him. The original had been replaced by an exact copy, but there was the see-saw Donnie had perfected his balance on by standing on the pivotal point while the others moved either end up and down. If you looked carefully, you could still see the dent Raph had left in the side of the climbing frame when he had accidentally run head-first into it and knocked himself out. And the monkey bars where Leo's fear of heights had been discovered and, in part, overcome.

"Never pegged you for having a fear of heights," Karai commented.

"The others used to put themselves in situations where I had to push it to one side to help them," Leo explained. "I'm over it now."

The conversation seemed to have ended there, so Leo began to swing. Karai just sat there, gripping the chains on either side of her swing and thinking. After a few minutes, Leo stopped.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I'm trying to decide," Karai said, "whether or not I'm glad I'm an only child."

"Both have their ups and downs," Leo shrugged.

"What do people do to have fun at the park?" Karai asked.

If Leo was a typical teenage boy, a bad innuendo might have sprung to mind. But he wasn't a typical teenage boy: he was a teenage mutant turtle, who happened to be training as a ninja. So instead of saying something stupid, he winked and teased, "Catch me and I'll tell you."

Within seconds he stood atop the monkey bars. He had definitely gotten taller, because he felt much higher off the ground, but the rooftops were higher still. This wasn't so bad. Karai blinked at him a couple of times, then smirked and headed straight for him, but he moved fast. By the time she had completed her graceful flip onto the monkey bars, Leo had jumped onto one of those rope bridges they had between the tilted wall used to get onto the small jungle gym, and the slide. Karai made to land beside him, but he was by the slide in an instant. By the time she caught up, he was already at the bottom.

He moved onto one seat of the see-saw. Then the other. The roundabout. Into the tunnels. Onto the top of the dome-shaped jungle gym. He dropped into the middle just as Karai reached him, and climbed out through the side. Back to the swings. Onto the top of the tunnel.

By the time Karai caught him, it was dark and they were both panting and laughing giddily, childishly.

"That's what else you do to have fun at the park," Leo said, catching his breath.

"That _was_ fun," Karai said, still laughing a bit. "Thanks, Leo."

Leo blushed. He didn't mean to; it just kind of happened. "Uh, you're welcome. Feel any better?"

"Yeah."

There was another pause before Leo said, "Karai… was this meant to be a date?"

They were standing close. Karai had placed one hand on his shoulder while she caught her breath and now she had it back, but she hadn't moved her hand. Leo wondered if he should do it himself.

"Call it a test-run," Karai said, "to see if I'd want to go on a real date with you."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "And…?"

"If you actually used the word _date_, I don't think I'd say no," Karai admitted. Then she checked her watch and swore. "I better get going. See you next time."

She patted him on the butt and left while he was distracted. His hands flew to his back pocket, realising she had reverse-pickpocketed a slip of paper into it.

A slip of paper with _her cell-phone number_ on it.

Wow. Now Leo was _really_ confused. Happy, but confused. That _had_ to mean she liked him, but why was she doing all this?

He was so confused, as he headed home, that he didn't even see the hawk mutant soaring overhead from the same general area as he was going.


	9. Karma Pizza

**A/N: chapter nine, already? Awesome! Originally this chapter was supposed to focus on Karai, but I've been on a big MikeyxAngel kick for a couple of days so I moved some scenes around**

**ChatterNoMatter: Thanks! I feel really bad for saying I kind of find it fun  
****Diporae: Thanks so much! I'm really glad you think so  
****The Controlled Chaos Alchemist: Oh, uh, actually Chaplin was a character in the 2003 series who really liked Karai. They got together at the end of the finale of season 5, or at least that's what was implied anyway  
****Thor-Born: Yeah, he must've been REALLY confused. And it was dark out, but that's not the point. And yep, Joy's finally made it into the story! Thanks again for the ideas, by the way  
****Thegirlwholived: Thank you!  
****Mistystar123: Thanks for the review  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks, and I plan to!  
****The potatoe one: That line is brilliant! Thanks, I'm trying to make Joy a fun character but she wasn't in many episodes so it's difficult. Enforcers fight when they're trying out for hockey, because the role of an enforcer is to start fights, which is really the main part of (ice) hockey. Which movie was it you saw? Also, you're very welcome!  
****Memmek10k: Aww, thanks!  
****BabyKatBoo: Thanks so much! You have no idea how happy I am to hear that**

**Huge thanks to the potatoe one for the pepperoni and karma line. It also inspired the title of this chapter**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Karma Pizza**

_I don't know but I think I may be  
__Fallin' for you, dropping so quickly  
__Maybe I should keep this to myself  
_~ _Fallin' For You_ by Colbie Caillat

Most people aren't anticipating a shower at seven in the morning on a Saturday, having been up since six doing their daily training exercises while thinking over last night's test-run date with the boy who was supposed to be their mortal enemy. Then again, most people aren't Oroku Karai.

She _did_ wonder for a minute there what normal people did at this time of morning. Probably sleep.

Sweat was rolling in beads down her back and beginning to make her feel grimy, so Karai grabbed up her things and headed back to her room, specifically to her en-suite so she could shower. She had about an hour before breakfast with Saki. If he had his way, Chaplin would probably be joining them, but she had really put her foot down on that one. Unfortunately, threatening to defect would probably only work once… especially since she felt like she was defecting anyway.

Ugh. She needed a shower. Karai locked herself in her beautifully-decorated en-suite, stripped down, put the hot water on and got into the shower. Hot showers were her favourite. The hotter, the better.

God, that felt better. As the hot water washed away the sweat and caused steam to rise from the walls, floor and mirror, Karai wondered just what the hell kind of conspiracy Chaplin and the Shredder had going on. She was definitely not the only one being secretive. Surely she had a right know know, especially about important things which involved her, and this seemed to be one of those things. Couldn't they –

_No,_ she told herself sternly. _Don't get all worked up. Think of something else._

Last night. She should think of last night.

Her aversion to parks had lessened immensely. Leo had seen to that. He'd also texted her his number when he got home, and they'd actually texted back and forth for a while. It was… nice.

She felt like she could trust him – _should_ trust him – and she sorely wanted to. Unfortunately, years of being the Shredder's daughter had seen to it that she was raised to find it difficult to trust anyone but herself. All but impossible, in some cases.

Dammit, why did being a teenager have to be so freaking complicated? Or even life in general? On the other hand, at least the phrase _be careful what you wish for_ was beginning to make sense. She _had_ wanted the experience of being a teenager, after all. And if what she was experiencing so far – goofing off in class, texting people, the test-run date – was anything to go on, she could take the hardships that came with it.

Karai shut off the shower and stepped into the thick steam of the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the rail. She wiped down her mirror and stared briefly at her reflection before it started to steam up again. She suddenly felt naked, even when she wrapped the towel around her body, without her makeup on. She opened the mirror-cabinet and reached for her eye-liner.

* * *

Angel always went for a walk on a Saturday morning, sometime between nine-thirty and ten. There was never any real reason for it; it was just a thing she did. She got to explore the city and find cool stuff to do. Today she was going through some alleys, trying to see if she remembered a shortcut she'd found last time. She took a wrong turn at one point, but quickly realised her mistake and went the right way instead.

She was just leaving the shortcut when she heard a noise behind her. She paused and turned.

The sound was coming from a couple of trashcans next to a beaten-up dumpster with graffiti scrawled all over it. One of the trashcans was rattling about like a small animal was stuck inside and trying to get out. Angel walked cautiously over to it and lifted the lid.

_Holy crap_.

* * *

"I just thought of something," April said.

She and Donnie were sitting on beanbags in the bit of space between the living room and the kitchen-diner. The beanbags had been unearthed while moving furniture from what the guys called The Lair to this apartment. Apparently there was still a ton of unpacking left to do, but only in Donnie's lab, the boys' bedrooms, and pretty much everywhere but the hallway, living-room-slash-kitchen-diner and Splinter's room.

"Shoot," Donnie said semi-absently. He was typing away on a laptop he had pieced together from parts he had found in a junkyard. April had brought her own laptop over so she could keep an eye on the message board she had set up with a false e-mail address. It was one of the most basic tricks she knew when looking for something unusual… such as a mutant hawk.

"What happens when one of you switches between human and turtle while you're injured? Because I know you said you have accelerated healing, but you can't even tell Raph was in a fight yesterday. Or is that just the mutant DNA?"

It was true. Raph had transformed yesterday and all his cuts and bruises had vanished, other than a tiny, unnoticeable scar where the cut above his eyebrow had been. By this morning, even _that_ was gone. The boys seemed more comfortable being in their mutant forms around her, so they were in their turtle forms now. April was glad they had grown used to her quickly. It was pretty cool to see them in their turtle forms, just casually gaming and working on stuff and generally being teenagers at home.

Donnie paused his typing thoughtfully. The only sounds now came from the videogame marathon the others were playing and the loud _tick-tock-tick-tock_ of the clock on the kitchen wall.

"You know," Donnie said, "I've given that some thought myself in the past. When we transform, our cellular structures change, and that appears to allow for the reparation of damaged cells… mostly. Raph has a couple of cracks on his plastron, but other than that, he's fine. But if one of us had, say, a broken leg, and we changed forms, there is a possibility the leg would set in the position it was in, and then we would need to re-break the –"

"Stop," Mikey requested through a mouthful of potato chips. "I'm eating."

"Know what else you're doing?" Raph teased. "_Losing_."

Mikey gave a shriek so effeminate it was impressive as his game character almost died, and turned back to the game.

April still understood what Donnie had been saying. They could heal themselves by transforming, but if the damage was too great, they ran the risk of making it worse.

"Well… what if you change just _part_ of your bodies?" she asked. "Like, if you had a paper cut, do you change the skin around it to fix it? Or if you had a broken leg, you could change everything _but_ your leg, and –"

Donnie set his laptop to one side, stood up and wordlessly walked over to April. She set her own laptop aside and Donnie took hold of her arms just below the shoulders, pulling her to her feet. They stood for a moment looking into each other's eyes, not quite sure what was going to happen next and neither of them aware that the videogame had been paused. April wondered, for a moment, if Donnie was going to hug her.

She didn't think she'd mind that. But Donnie's hands simply slid down to her upper arms, firm but gentle, in a similar hold to Saturday night on the roof, when he'd told her his name was Darko. Had that really only been a week ago? She couldn't believe any of this was really happening; and at the same time, she didn't want any of it to end.

"You," Donatello told her slowly, admiration (and a little awe) coating his voice, "are a genius. That idea would solve so many problems… I can't believe I didn't think of it."

April didn't know how to react. Clearly he wasn't going to work up the nerve to hug her, and she couldn't exactly just hug him out of the blue. So instead she grinned and grabbed his wrists. His thick, pebbled skin was smooth and cool, not actually cold. Definitely warmer than she expected. Must be the human DNA which had been added to the mix.

The moment was killed, however, when Mikey's t-Phone buzzed. He checked it, said, "I gotta go," and bolted upstairs.

Raph groaned and offered Mikey's abandoned controller to the others. Leo switched to Mikey's seat and the game continued. Donnie and April moved their beanbags closer together and tried to see if Donnie could change part of his turtle skin to human skin.

Mikey returned a couple of minutes later in his human form, wearing jeans and an orange baseball shirt with a jacket tied around his waist and carrying a backpack with his nunchucks in it. He looked like he was in a hurry. He snatched up his phone and instructed Leo to "Kill Raph for me. Violently."

"Where the shell are you goin', anyway?" Raph asked, his eyes refusing to leave the television screen.

"Gotta meet up with Angel."

"What's with the hurry? You two goin' on a date or something?"

Mikey shook his head. "It's an emergency. She found something."

Then, without elaborating, he left. The others glanced at each other, shrugged and resumed their activities.

"Anybody want pizza for lunch?" Raph asked.

April, Donnie and Leo raised their heads and smirked in perfect synchronisation. They didn't even have to consult each other to know what they were about to say. Unfortunately Splinter had just come into the kitchen to make himself some tea, and he beat them to it. As soon as he started talking, April and Donnie began shaking with the effort of restraining their laughter. Leo kept his composure better.

"Yes," Splinter said, "pizza sounds very good right now. With pepperoni." He smirked. "And karma."

If Leo, April and Donnie weren't already in hysterics the moment the words left Splinter's mouth, the look on Raph's face – one which said _I am so done with the lot of you_, or maybe _I'm disowning all of you people right freaking now_ – would have tipped them over the edge.

* * *

Okay, it was official. Mikey was in love.

He knew he was the second he rounded the corner into the alley and saw Angel. She was holding the most freaking _adorable_ cat he'd ever seen in his life!

The cat seemed young, but not a kitten anymore. It was small and fluffy, with soft orange fur and no collar. Angel was cuddling it to her chest and scratching behind its ear, talking to it soothingly. The cat purred contentedly, and for a second there, Mikey was jealous. If Raph was there he would've asked whether Mikey was jealous of Angel or the cat. Mikey wouldn't quite have known. He would have answered that he was more jealous of _Angel_, but he wouldn't have been sure if he was telling the truth.

"You found a _cat_!?" he squealed excitedly, rushing over and forgetting not to use his ninja speed in public.

"I don't think he's got an owner," Angel said, still cuddling the cat as it turned to look at Mikey. "I'd take him home with me, but my grandma's allergic to cats, so I can't. I'm gonna put my clothes in the laundry when I get in, just in case."

She handed the cat over to Mikey, and he saw that her shirt was covered in cat hair. The cat sniffed Mikey, decided it liked him and mewed softly. It rubbed its head against him, which Angel said was what cats did when they considered you family.

"Aww, kitty," he cooed, scratching the cat in the same spot as Angel had done, and beaming proudly when the cat began to purr.

"I figured you could help me find a home for him," Angel said.

"Problem solved! I'll take him home!" Mikey said.

"You sure that's okay? Cos you probably don't have any stuff for cats in your–"

"Nah, it'll be fine," Mikey said dismissively.

There was no rule saying he _couldn't_ have a pet. Raph had a pet turtle called Spike. And the cat wouldn't go for Splinter, considering he was like six feet tall. Besides, Mikey had always wanted a cat. And the cat thought he was family. He was in love with the cat. He _had_ to keep it.

"We better go to the pet store, then," Angel said. "What are you gonna call him?"

"Klunk," Mikey said. "I always wanted a cat called Klunk."

* * *

Karai arrived to lunch in a pair of boyfriend jeans and a tank top. Chaplin and the Shredder were already there. She ate in near-silence, giving short answers to the small-talk they tried to make with her and telling just enough truth about her whereabouts last night that she wouldn't be caught out.

"I must attend an important event today," Saki said after several minutes of this. "Will you be joining me? Or would you prefer to overlook things here?"

They were both looking at her. Saki was gauging her reaction and Chaplin looked hopeful.

Decisions, decisions. Be cooed over by schmoozing politicians, or be bored by a doting Chaplin? On the flip side, it was also attempt to sneakily get information out of Saki versus easily and subtly get information out of Chaplin. With the latter route the information was pretty much guaranteed.

"I will take care of things here," she said, "while you are gone."

Chaplin perked up and Saki nodded his approval. "Very well."

Good. She could handle this. She just had to put up with Chaplin for one day.

She came to this conclusion, then realised it was too late to change her mind. Dammit.

Oh well. She changed into her armour after lunch and saw Saki off. She had changed into her armour because it was intimidating… and because she knew Leo liked it. By that logic, all she had to do was turn on the charm and she should be able to get the information she needed out of Chaplin.

Pretending to overlook the work in the labs, she came across Baxter Stockman. Stockman was a tall, bespectacled black man with an exceedingly high IQ. Chaplin idolised him.

"More weapons work?"

Stockman jumped somewhat, but tried not to show it. Karai had made sure her footfalls were deliberately heavy so he would know she was coming, but maybe he was just too into his work. She shrugged it off and repeated the question.

"Oh – uh, actually I'm working on a way to track down those four terrapins and the rat."

Karai nodded. She knew she wouldn't get anything out of Stockman; it was just standard procedure, and anyway he liked to explain things quickly so he could get back to work. She let him go over his new plan, mentally trying to figure out ways around it, and moved on. No way was she ever letting the Shredder get hold of Leo.

_Or his family_, she added as an afterthought.

* * *

"What the shell is that?" Raph demanded. Mikey, who had literally just come in the door, stopped dead and held Klunk a bit closer.

"Uh… I can explain?"

"_Why_ do you have a _cat_?" April asked. She looked halfway interested and halfway like she wanted to smack him across the face with a rolled-up magazine like she had done to Leo.

Mikey tried to shy away from her, just in case, and said, "Cos Klunk's _my_ cat. He was a stray, and Angel found him but she couldn't take him home, so she asked me to help find a home for him and I decided to keep him because _look at his little face_!"

He extended Klunk, who now had a collar, for the others to see. April's face softened but Raph's seemed to get angrier. "Geez, Mikey," he said, "just how bad do ya' have it? Stuck in this house with three lovestruck brothers –" Donnie's face went red – "and did ya' _see_ how fast ya' left when she texted you? You _never_ leave mid-game!"

Someone gave a cough which sounded like "Joy" and Raph turned to glare at whoever it was as Mikey cracked a smile. He didn't bother to hide the red which had spread across his cheeks at the word _lovestruck_. Yeah, he liked Angel, but not like –

Well… maybe.

"Anyway, dudes, I gotta set everything up for Klunk. He can sleep in my room!" he said, heading upstairs.

So far, Mikey had kept his room surprisingly clean. Most of his stuff was still in boxes in his closet, so he could actually see the floor here, which was probably a good thing because you wouldn't _believe_ how many times he'd tripped over just trying to get into bed when they lived in the sewers!

Now he was determined to keep it clean, for Klunk's sake.

The bedrooms were a decent enough size. There would be plenty of room for an all-brother sleepover in each if they set things up like they were playing Tetris, but they'd still be trying not to step on each other if one of them had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Mikey set up Klunk's cat bed on top of the chest of drawers next to his bedroom door. Opposite the door was there was a window, almost in the corner between the far and left wall, and Mikey's unmade bed was under the window. His desk was on the far wall next to the bed, and against the right wall was his walk-in closet. His bedroom was the third along, between Raph's room with the red-painted door and Donnie's room which was probably still empty, apart from all his cardboard boxes.

"You get comfy there," Mikey told Klunk, putting him in the cat bed (he immediately stepped out to investigate Mikey's alarm clock) and unpacking the rest of his backpack, which was full of stuff he and Angel had bought for Klunk.

The thought of he and Angel buying things for Klunk brought him back to what Raph had just said.

"So what if I like Angel?" He asked Klunk, who mewed adorably. After all, they were friends, so did it really matter? "I mean, she's pretty, and pretty awesome, and she's a great soccer player, but it's not a big deal. Right?"

Klunk mewed again and Mikey sighed. As adorable as Klunk was, this was getting him nowhere. Maybe he should talk to Donnie about this…

Later, though. He was getting hungry.

* * *

April checked her message board for any leads on the hawk mutant, but there wasn't much. There were a couple of comments from people who thought they'd seen it but weren't sure, and a couple of conspiracy theories; the usual. Nothing genuinely noteworthy.

"I'll try something else," she told Leo when he asked.

"Thanks."

Mikey came bounding down the stairs, still holding Klunk and back in his turtle form, and said, "Hey April, while you're on the internet, why dontcha look up some dating tips for Raphie?"

Raph growled. "Mikey, if you weren't holding that freaking cat, I swear I would hit you _so_ freaking hard you'd –"

"Michelangelo."

Everyone froze. Splinter had just come in from collecting the pizza. Mikey cringed visibly and April saw that the kid-caught-stealing-the-cookies look wasn't unique to Donnie. Except that Mikey looked nervous rather than ashamed.

"Uh… yeah, sensei?"

"Would you like to explain why you are holding a cat?"

Mikey launched into a very played-up-for-sympathy story about Angel finding the poor little starving street cat, and how she'd _so very badly_ wanted to take it home, but her Poor Dear Grandmother was allergic, so she had called Mikey for help; and he absolutely _had_ to have the cat because it was so adorable and he had loved it at first sight I mean _look at that little face_.

Mikey was definitely in love with that cat. Even Splinter couldn't say no to the look on Mikey's face. Provided, of course, Mikey looked after Klunk himself.

"_What_!?" Raph exclaimed. "You're just gonna let him _keep_ it? Sensei, with all due respect, you –"

"Do you want your Karma Pizza," Splinter interjected, "or not?"

Raph huffed as the others tried to control their sniggers. It was gonna be a _long_ however-long-payback-was-gonna-take for him. A _really_ long however-long-payback-was-gonna-take.

Klunk sat on Mikey's lap after investigating everyone and deciding he liked them all. It was an effort to stop Mikey giving the cat any pizza, but they found even _Raph_ couldn't resist giving Klunk a slice of pepperoni when the cat put a paw on his knee and stared pleadingly. It wasn't long before everyone was fussing over Klunk, but he was definitely Mikey's cat. April was amused at how quickly the cat had become part of the family, then realised she had been thinking the same thing about herself. Maybe it was because she and Klunk accepted them. She couldn't blame them for appreciating that; wanting to keep close the people who knew what they were and didn't care.


	10. Happy (Belated) Mutation Day

**A/N: WARNING: LONGEST CHAPTER SO FAR IS LONG**

**JadeKurosaki: Thanks! Glad you like it  
****Thor-Born: A Karma Pizza is a food Splinter invented while he was in Troll Mode. I haven't really done much on Chaplin yet but I will some time, I guess he had his freak-out when he started working there. Stockman's the 2003 version because sadly I can't find many episodes of the 2012 series online  
****ChatterNoMatter: I did actually think of that, but I'm still debating whether or not to make Klunk and Ice Cream Kitty the same character. I've now deleted the A/N saying I would because I can't really decide. If I DO still go with that idea I'll just have to cheat a bit. Glad you like the story!  
****Guest: Oh man, I really don't remember that… I need to go back and re-watch some of the episodes. I'm sure I can find out what movie it is for you, though. Yeah, I couldn't resist adding Klunk, he IS adorable. I feel sorry for Karai too, but maybe I'll remember to write in some interaction with Chaplin at some point (even though it's not a big part of the story). Oh well, either way it's make-fun-of-Raph time  
****Memmek10k: Don't worry, it'll happen eventually  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks, I plan to  
****The Chaos Controlled Alchemist: Don't worry about it; it would be a pretty cool plot twist if it happened in the series. To be honest I know the 2003 series best because it's all on YouTube**

**Sorry for all the MikeyxAngel; like I said last time, I've been on a real kick with this paring lately. I know there's not much RaphxJoy yet, but that's because it's coming later. I plan to do one of these at least up to their senior year and I have a prom scene planned for the next one. I have a Halloween chapter planned too but unfortunately it's going to be late, just like this one is being posted over a month after then guys' actual mutation day. Hopefully the Halloween one will only be a couple of weeks late, because I try to update on a roughly weekly basis**

**As another side note, instead of the Donnie-April-Casey love triangle, with Donnie and Casey fighting all the time, I'm actually aiming for the bantering friendship Donnie and Casey had in the 1990 movie, just because I thought that was fun and I'd kind of like to see it happen in the show**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Happy (Belated) Mutation Day**

_Remember the time when we stole the whole day  
__And nobody knows it, we took it away  
_~ _Forever Yours_ by Alex Day

For the next couple of weeks, nothing much seemed to happen.

April kept checking her message board, but the most interesting thing she got was a couple of people who spotted a blonde girl leaving the scene when they double-checked after thinking they'd seen what appeared to be a large hawk. She had been putting other techniques to use, but hadn't managed to get much.

Leo kept meeting with Karai on the same rooftop, but he hadn't gotten around to asking her on an actual date yet, although she _was_ keeping him (for whatever reason) updated on what the Foot was up to. He was worried about what would happen if Karai was caught, but the information had already saved their shells twice, so he was more than grateful.

Raph had managed to get Joy's number, and had begun what he called Numbskull Lessons with Casey; he and Casey were all but inseparable by now. It was interesting to discover that Casey was also a vigilante with something against the Purple Dragons, but when Raph tried to enlist Jones' help… well… he flipped his shit at the mention of mutants. Raph hadn't tried since.

Donnie had been spending all his free time in his lab recently, and he wouldn't even tell _April_ what he was up to. This only really seemed to concern April, but Mikey's reassurances – "He does this all the time, Ape. He's probably working on some big project; he'll be done soon." – were seeming less and less confident of late. And when he wasn't in his lab, he acted like nothing was wrong.

Mikey was… well, Mikey was Mikey. He wasn't too pleased when Splinter had threatened to ban Klunk from the dinner table because everyone kept feeding him bits of food, but instead the rule that went through was that when eating at the table, the only food the cat got was food that fell on the floor. On occasion someone would deliberately drop something they didn't like under the table.

Oh, and Mikey had managed to get round to having that talk with Donnie.

* * *

It was only a couple of days after Donnie had begun shutting himself away in his lab. Mikey knocked on the door and waited for the all-clear. Donnie always got mad and yelled if you didn't knock first, because for all you knew he could be standing by the door with important or volatile chemicals and you could cause an explosion or something.

Mikey knew this from experience. _Lots_ of experience.

No, seriously. All the lectures he'd endured so far would probably last at least a week if they were given back-to-back.

"D, can we talk?" he asked, opening the door a crack when Donnie said it was okay to come in. He sat on his lab stool and didn't look as tired as he would soon, but he _did_ look a bit tired, like he was trying to figure out how something worked but it was slow going.

"Sure," Donnie said. "What's on your mind?"

This was the point at which Mikey panicked. This was totally a bad idea. What if Donnie made fun of him? God knew he'd deserve it, for making fun of Donnie for liking April, and if he was thinking straight he'd know Donnie would never do that, but Klunk had kept him awake wanting attention nearly all night, _and_ soccer practise had been tiring.

"Y'know what?" he said. "You seem busy… and it's not all that important. I'll come back later. Sorry to bother –"

"Hamato Michelangelo."

Mikey paused. He and his bros almost never used full names on one another unless they were in trouble – generally Mikey – or being deathly serious (which, usually, meant they were in trouble). But Donnie didn't sound Angry-Serious. His voice was calm and gentle but firm, and it clearly said, _Something's bothering you. Talk to me; I promise I won't judge._

You couldn't argue when he used that tone. It was like That Look which Raph kept reserved for extra-special occasions. Mikey stepped into the lab and closed the door, grateful that Donnie had soundproofed it so that if he accidentally blew anything up they couldn't hear it from outside.

"It's Angel."

Donnie nodded knowingly. "Is this about what Raph said the other day?" he asked gently. When Mikey nodded, he said, "You know he was only teasing, right?"

"I know," Mikey sighed.

"It's none of Raph's business how you feel about Angel."

"Yeah," Mikey said hesitantly, feeling more awkward with each word he spoke, "but… what if he's… right?"

Donnie fixed him with a steady, thoughtful gaze, like he was trying to read Mikey's thoughts. They'd all gone through a stage of trying to read each others' minds as kids, and Donnie had always had the most convincing Mind Reader expression. He had kept it as they grew up; and this was it.

"_Is_ he right?" Donnie asked after a few painfully long moments.

Mikey blushed and became suddenly interested in his own feet. "Maybe," he told the ground.

"I see. Do you want me to help you sort your feelings out?"

"_Yes_!" Mikey exclaimed. "You're, like, an expert on this stuff!"

Obviously flattered, Donnie flushed a little and said, "I'm no expert, Mikey; I just have a basic understanding of psychology which –"

"Can we skip this bit, please?" Mikey asked. If Donnie started on a lecture, he'd probably get bored and leave, and then he'd have gotten nowhere.

"Okay, fine. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you just give me the first answer that comes to mind, in as few words as possible. Got it?"

"Got it."

"This is an exercise usually used to help in decision making. With me so far?"

_Sort of._ "Uh-huh," Mikey said.

"By giving the first answer that comes to mind, you'll actually be telling me how you feel about whatever I ask about. Ready to start?"

"Sure."

"Pizza's still your favourite food?"

"Yeah."

"Favourite colour's still orange?"

"Yes."

"And you know Raph's pregnant, right?"

"Ye – wait, _what_?" Mikey exclaimed. His voice rose so high that Donnie burst out laughing.

"Sorry," he managed to say through bouts of laughter. "That wasn't… true. I had to… make sure… you were paying attention."

When Donnie calmed down, Mikey said, "Dude, you are seriously messed up."

"I'm not the one asking for dating advice from Mr Techno-babble."

Mikey grimaced. "You heard that?"

"From my lab. Yes. Back to the exercise. You like Angel, right?"

"Yeah."

"The same way you like April?"

Mikey hesitated. "Uh…"

Donnie blinked once and said, slowly, "_Or_… the same way _I_ like April?"

"I don't know! Maybe both!" Mikey said, exasperated.

Donnie gave a sympathetic nod. "You're confused; I get it. But you don't find the idea of being with her repulsive, right?"

"No," Mikey said immediately, surprising himself.

Donnie sat back to think for a moment, then said, "Mikey, do you know what laissez-faire means?"

Mikey cocked his head to one side and rolled the new phrase around on his tongue. "Laze-ay fair? Is it like a fairground?"

"No… it's French. If you adopt a laissez-faire attitude, you're leaving things to chart their own course; not messing with the way they're going. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"I see that I've just learned a new word I'll probably forget in about five minutes," Mikey offered, shrugging; Donnie slapped his own forehead.

"What I'm saying is, maybe you should take a laissez-faire approach to your relationship with Angel for now. Just carry on as you are and let whatever's going to happen, happen. Does that sound okay?"

Mikey took a couple of seconds to mull it over and decided it sounded good. Yeah, it could totally work. Mikey dragged Donnie into one of the tightest, most grateful bro-hugs he had ever given out, only releasing him when he complained about the lack of oxygen.

"Thanks, bro!" he said happily. "Come on, let's go have ice cream! Raph's gonna put a scary movie on!"

Donnie gave an okay-Mikey-why-not sigh which he, Raph and Leo had perfected over the course of fifteen years, and followed Mikey out of the lab.

* * *

That felt like the last time they had seen him in _ages_. Sure, Donnie was probably the least sociable of the four brothers, so he was eventually going to want some time to himself, but he had been shut away for too long, and he wouldn't even let anyone visit him in his lab! April was fed up of it.

So one Saturday somewhere between mid and late September, she went over to their place, didn't even say hello when they let her in, totally ignored the knock-first rule and barged straight into Donnie's lab.

"Hamato Donatello, what the –" here she said a word at which you could _hear_ the others wince before the door swung shut behind her – "do you think you're doing, locking yourself away like this? You won't even tell us what's going on! Didn't it ever occur to you that I might be worried about –"

Her rant ended abruptly when she realised something was off. Not just one thing, either.

First off, Donnie looked significantly less tired than he had done recently. He still looked tired, but it was more like he needed to catch up on his sleep than the working-myself-to-death kind of tired he had been, as though he was anticipating the end of a big, difficult project. He was much less pale and hassled-looking, the bags under his eyes severely reduced and his hair neater than it had been in weeks.

Hair… oh! April was getting so used to the fact that the guys were actually mutant turtles, she only registered on a subconscious level now which form they were in: whether they had hair or green skin; jeans and loose shirts or shells and plastrons; and, in Donnie's case, whether he wore glasses or his mask.

Speaking of which, here was another pleasant surprise: Donnie wasn't wearing those stupid glasses. April had developed a real hatred for those glasses. She liked being able to see his eyes without them, but in his turtle form he always wore his mask, and that could get in the way. He had nice eyes. And hair. And –

_No, April,_ she thought. _Stop it. You're annoyed at him._

"Sorry to worry you," Donnie said, pulling his glasses out of his pocket and putting them on. "I was just about to go out, actually."

April wanted to snatch those glasses and break them, but she didn't because she wasn't sure if the urge was motivated by her anger or… something else.

"Then I'm going too," she told him. "Don, you're my friend. I have a right to know what's going on!"

Donnie sighed, then became suddenly fascinated with his sneakers and said, "Fine, I'll explain everything, but I need you to do me a favour and look like you're _making_ me go." He fidgeted the whole time he was talking.

Only _after_ April had grabbed his wrist and marched him out of the apartment (as indignantly as possible, all the while trying to ignore the way her hand tingled where it touched his bare skin) did it occur to her that it could just be a ploy to get her to hold his hand. Not that he would really try that, but hey, she wasn't a mind reader. Still, when she somewhat reluctantly let go of his hand, she was forced to hide a small smile as she realised he was blushing noticeably.

"Alright," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Start talking."

Setting off , Donnie said, "Our mutation day is coming up. We don't know when our actual birthday was, but the day we were mutated was the twenty-ninth of September, so we always celebrate that. It's our sixteenth, so… _I-wanted-to-make-presents-for-my-brothers-this-year-instead-of-buying-them_." He finished so fast and quiet that April only just caught what he said.

But she _did_ hear him. And she couldn't decide whether to throw herself at him or hit him. "You've been working yourself half to death… to make birthday presents for your brothers?"

Donnie nodded. "I'm due to start on Raph's today. It's the last one."

Now April couldn't help it. She forced a hug on him and mumbled into his chest, "God, you have to be the sweetest brother _ever_."

Donnie returned the hug briefly and thanked her before they pulled apart. April smiled again at the blush lingering on his cheeks. Dammit, he just _had_ to be as adorable as Mikey at times, didn't he? Not that she was complaining. That was one of the many things she really liked about him.

"What _is_ Raph's present?" she asked.

* * *

When he wasn't beating up goons (on or off the ice) or trying to keep track of the girl he referred to as his kid sister, Casey Jones could usually be found in the garage of his house, fixing up old vehicles he had rescued from the local junkyard after they were deemed too hard or expensive to have repaired by a professional. He often sold the finished product to second-hand car dealerships, or kids who had just earned their license. Casey doubted he would get into college on smarts alone, but his dad had once said he could probably open his own second-hand car dealership if he wanted, so he kept his options open.

They didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on everything, but Raphael Hamato agreed with him on that one. They had begun spending Saturdays in Casey's garage, working on vehicles.

"Maybe I'll join ya' in that workshop," Raph had said last week. "If anyone if my family's goin' to college, it's Don and Leo. Mikey don't take school serious."

"And you're what, too thick-headed?" Casey had returned.

Casey didn't feel too great for lying to Raph about having to do important family stuff this week, but when Raph's brother Donatello had contacted him, asking about a motorcycle, Casey couldn't pass up the opportunity. He knew Donnie was the brother who liked April, and Casey may not have too much to offer in terms of brains and raw looks – heck, even _he_ knew he was basically a thug with a hockey stick and a worryingly in-depth knowledge of cars – but if he had one thing going for him, _really_ going for him, it was a strong sense of protectiveness over his friends.

And sure, it was probably none of his business who April went out with (in whatever context), but that protectiveness was automatic.

He wouldn't say anything to her unless he felt like he had to, not because April would kick his butt otherwise but because as long as Donnie wasn't like that Vern guy – who, Casey had realised after less than an hour, was just interested in a two-week relationship and a three-letter word stereotypically thought about a lot by guys (April had agreed with Casey on that one) – then he didn't really mind.

So, yeah. Donnie had contacted Casey earlier in the week, having gotten his number by borrowing Raph's phone, and asked for help with Raph's birthday present. Casey remembered Raph saying in passing that he always wanted a red motorcycle. Don had wanted to know if there was one in the junkyard, and if there was, could he have help fixing it up, because apparently he didn't know much about 'cycles. He said he'd pay Casey for the help, so there was an added bonus: more money to go to one side in case they needed it.

Casey _had_ managed to find a motorcycle, in pretty good condition. He had told Don he could use the garage to work on the bike in exchange for help with Casey's newest find, a car his mom had decided to name Chris. The car wasn't a '58 model, but she _was_ a Plymouth Fury, and she _had_ been red at some point. It was a gorgeous car. Some lucky senior was going to have a _very_ good time at prom with this machine by the time the two of them were done with it.

He was surprised, when Donatello arrived, to see April O'Neil at his side. Don was a bit taller than Casey, and he was _much_ taller than April: she seemed to be about eye-level with his shoulders, and she was thinner. Don was brunette, with long hair and glasses. He and April made sort of an odd pair and a kind-of cute pair at the same time.

Huh. That was interesting. Didn't April normally spend Saturdays with her boy-crazy friend, Irma Langinstein?

Casey greeted them both and opened the garage door, flicking on the lights. He removed a tarp from Chris the Car, then from the motorcycle.

"Best I could find," he said. "You wanted a strong one, right?"

Donatello stood and scrutinised the bike for a second. Casey heard gears whirring at impossible speeds and saw him doing massive calculations in his head. When the calculations were done, he said, "It looks perfect. I'd like to reinforce the frame before getting to work on the engine, though."

Casey blinked. "Reinforce the frame? This is the strongest thing I could find! What's he gonna be carrying on it?" he exclaimed, shocked.

Donnie nodded. "I know. Raph has… a lot of dead weight."

Casey didn't think, from the look Don and April shared, that the whole truth was being told here; but he shrugged it off. The guy would know his own brother. So Casey asked Don to double-check the car engine for him first and went to stand with April.

Donnie nodded, walked over to Chris Plymouth and opened the hood of the car.

"Shouldn't you be hanging out with Irma?" Casey asked April quietly.

"Maybe," April shrugged. "Shouldn't you be working on the car yourself?"

"Touché, Red."

"I'll hang out with her plenty when she plans her Halloween party," April added. "You're going this year, right?"

"Eh." Casey and Irma didn't get along very well. "Maybe," he said. He wasn't a fan of Halloween parties, and anyway there were a lot of thugs going round on Halloween and he had to make sure they were under control.

It was then that Casey realised April wasn't looking at him. Normally she made eye contact with whoever she was talking to, but she wasn't even _facing_ him. Actually, she was looking… Casey followed her gaze to Donnie, who was still leaning over the car engine with his back to them.

She was checking Donnie out. Or at least watching him intently.

Well. This _was_ interesting. Casey hadn't seen April do _that_ before.

He waved a hand in front of her face. "Yo, Earth to Red."

April promptly snapped out of it and turned bright red when she realised she'd been caught. "Go help Donnie," she said, smacking him on the arm. "He's doing all your work for you."

Alright. Phase Two of Operation: Overprotective Dad was go.

To be fair, he was still in Overprotective Big Brother Mode about Angel. She'd snuck off again last night and he was determined to find out what was going on. If she was sneaking off to see Raph's brother Mikey, that wasn't so bad, because the kid was like an open large-print book and Casey could see he liked her a lot. Casey just hoped Mikey would be a good influence on Angel instead of Angel being a bad influence on Mikey. But the main thing which worried Casey was what else Angel might be doing without telling him.

"How's that engine look?" he asked. Donnie straightened up.

"It's not as bad as I thought it was," he said. "A couple of parts need replacing but the rest should be easy. Can you hold these for me? They're getting in the way."

Donnie handed his glasses to April, who held them carefully but looked, Casey thought, like she wanted to snap them in two. Not with the intention of being mean; she just… she just seemed to have something against them. Heck if Casey could figure out why.

He and Donnie leaned over the engine and compared notes on it. Their observations matched.

Until about two or three, Casey worked on Chris' engine and watched Donnie and April interact as Donnie worked on Raph's motorcycle. Whatever Donnie felt for April, it was clearly more meaningful than whatever Vern's feelings were. He was more likeable, too. At least Casey wasn't falling asleep every time Donnie opened his mouth.

In conclusion: no cause for intervention.

Now he just had to figure out what was up with Angel. Then he could stop worrying and get on with fixing cars.

* * *

April came over to the guys' place to celebrate their mutation day a couple of weeks later, at the weekend. April came over early that morning with a bag of presents and a cake. She had been planning it behind the guys' backs with Splinter since she found out when their mutation day was; even Donnie didn't know.

It wasn't even eight in the morning when April turned up, and she let herself in with the spare key Splinter had passed to her the night before while the guys were distracted. The only people in the house who weren't in bed were Splinter, Klunk and Donnie, who was actually sprawled on the couch in his human form, asleep.

Apparently it had taken the Hamato clan just over ten years to realise that the only way to stop Donnie from physically struggling to function after a full night of sleep was to give him some _really_ strong coffee. It was fair enough that ten years old seemed a bit young to be drinking coffee, but he _was_ technically a mutant, after all. But either way, coffee (and the money to buy it) was a rarity in the sewers, so they had gotten used to just letting him be awake or asleep at whatever awkward times he was awake or asleep at.

He looked like he _had_ been awake, but was now only half-conscious. April would later find out he had been up at about four in the morning to fetch Raph's new motorcycle from Casey's place, and had barely made it to the couch before he crashed. The windows let in a lot of sunlight, which had kept him from staying asleep properly.

But hey, April had joked, if you couldn't kill yourself working day and night on birthday presents for your brothers, you shouldn't be incredibly gifted at making things. And it was nice to see them worried about him, for a change. Even if she _was _kind of annoyed at him for making them all worry.

The others got up between half-eight and nine. By this time, Donnie had downed two cups of coffee and reverted to his mutant form.

Mikey was, unsurprisingly, the first awake of the remaining three. He bounced down the stairs with so much energy it was like he'd had an overnight battery change. Leo was next awake, looking tired but still in a seemingly good mood. Raph was the last one _up_, but he definitely wasn't _awake_. Actually, he looked and sounded more like a tired (and slightly bored) zombie than a mutant turtle. He turned from a tired zombie into a happy zombie at the mention of presents.

And then he stopped being a zombie altogether when he unwrapped the bright red motorcycle helmet April had bought him. In fact, he looked relatively stunned.

"What the shell is –"

Donnie silently pushed a small box at him. Inside the box, which he had hurriedly wrapped in newspaper at five in the morning before he passed out on the couch, was the key to what quickly became known as the Shell Cycle. Raph was more than pleased.

* * *

All in all, it had been a good day. Leo was enjoying it immensely. They had just had the first slices of cake when his phone buzzed.

**From Karai:  
**_Need to meet up ASAP_

Leo sighed and sent a message back.

**From Leo:  
**_What's up?_

**From Karai:  
**_Just hurry. It's important_

Reluctantly, Leo agreed. He grabbed a couple of slices of cake on the way out and took to the rooftops, hoping whatever it was wouldn't take too long. They were hoping to watch a couple of movies before April had to go.

He met Karai in the usual place and the first thing he did was offer her a slice of cake. She smiled, a concept he was almost used to by now, and said, "Don't mind if I do."

They sat on the rooftop and ate their slices of cake in near-silence, Leo enjoying the company and Karai enjoying the cake, if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

"That was great," she said when she was done. "What's the occasion?"

"It's our mutation day," Leo explained.

Karai huffed. "Wish I'd known. I would've got you something."

"The company's fine. What's the emergency?" In a teasing tone, Leo added, "Or did you just miss me?"

"You wish," Karai chuckled. "Remember our test-run date? The day after, I swiped a disk from Chaplin's lab and copied it, and I've been trying to get into it so I can find out what he and the Shredder are up to. Problem is, I'm not a hacker. I can't get past the security protection without giving my dumb computer a virus. I've had to sneak out and get probably three new laptops in as many weeks. You get three chances and then it shuts everything down and it might as well set the whole thing on fire for all the good the on-off switch does. I'm not a fan of admitting defeat, but I have a bad feeling it's really important. Can you have your brother take a look at it?"

She reached into her pocket and offered Leo an unlabelled disk in a clear case. He took it.

"I'll warn Donnie about the defences. He'll know what to do. And I'll let you know the second he finds _anything_," Leo promised.

"You," Karai said, "are the best. It sucks that our families are fighting."

Leo blushed. "I know." They both stood up to go, but Leo caught her arm and, before he could talk himself out of it, said, "There's a fair next month. Do you want to go with me? Like… like a date?"

Karai's serious expression split into a well-controlled grin and she shook her head in agreement. "Hell yeah," she said. It sounded like she'd been waiting to hear that since their test-run date.

In truth, he'd been waiting to ask since then.

"Seriously?" he asked incredulously.

Karai took a step toward him. Put one hand on his shoulder and the other on the back of his head; drew him closer. It didn't seem to bother her that he wasn't even in his human form. His face heated up to an impossible temperature when he felt Karai press her lips to his cheek. She was much warmer than he was.

"Ask," she murmured into his ear, "and ye shall receive. Happy mutation day, Leo."


	11. Joy's Secret

**A/N: I can't believe we're on chapter eleven already… it amazes me how far this story's coming, especially this quickly. Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows! I love being part of such an active fandom!**

**Thor-Born: Thanks! Idiot me forgot to mention how Raph found out about the vigilante thing; I'll have to add it some time. Yeah, I couldn't resist adding the Shell Cycle. I'll probably mention the other presents, but only in passing… wait 'til you find out what Raph got Mikey! Thanks, unfortunately the name of the website didn't show up in the review. Something to do with links on this site I guess  
****Memmek10k: Thanks!  
****Gumi Langley: Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much; happy Halloween to you, too!  
****JadeKurosaki: Glad you love it so much! It means a lot to me!  
****The potatoe one: I'm going to decide you meant ALL the couples, yep. Yeah, I'm going for a cross between Splinter's backstories from the 1987, 2003 AND 2012 series' here, so I'll explain that later but while he DID marry Tang Shen, they didn't have a child. You're very welcome, by the way!**

**Couple of points here: the part of Joy's backstory mentioning a girl called Teresa actually happened to ME, and I felt like I had to put that in. I thought Joy would be scared to tell anyone her secret and that would make her insecure during the middle school years… which for some reason we have in the part of England where I live, so I experienced that. I actually got rid of MY Teresa (who wasn't really called that) when I was sixteen and felt like I needed to reference what happened for some reason. I don't think she'll come up again; I just felt like I needed to get it out there somehow. Also, this is a largely Joy-centric chapter, because I want to include her in the story a bit more than I have done so far, AND because I plan to have the next chapter fairly centred on Angel and Mikey. There IS a Halloween chapter coming up; it'll be chapter thirteen. Seems fitting, right? Hopefully it'll also be nice and long because I want to try and include all the pairings. Furthermore, Joy isn't actually a mutant in the show but… see the Author's Note at the start of chapter seven for a decent explanation**

**Sorry for the lyrics, by the way. It was the most appropriate thing I could find**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Joy's Secret**

_I saw you this morning  
__You were moving so fast  
__Can't seem to loosen my grip  
__On the past  
_~ _In My Secret Life_ by Leonard Cohen

The next Tuesday was when things outside of normal, boring human living really started to happen. Leo and Raph had gone on patrol that night – splitting up as soon as possible, of course, and Leo was probably sneaking off to see Karai – while Donnie and Mikey stayed at home with April and Splinter.

Boy, they _really_ missed out this time.

Raph found the hawk mutant, perched on the edge of the roof of a building with its head up toward the sky and its eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the breeze ruffling its feathers. He approached cautiously, knowing the others (mostly Leo) would kill him if they found out he was so close to making contact with the hawk mutant but scared it off. One of them would _definitely_ say it was typical of him to do that sort of thing and Mikey would say it was his ugly face or his bad breath or his poor stealth or something. And then he would smack Mikey with something.

He was almost an arm's length away from the hawk mutant when it hopped from its perch onto the actual roof, crouching eye-level with him and the same distance away still. It suddenly occurred to Raph that he had only managed to come this close because the hawk had let him. That thought made him _very_ uncomfortable.

He could see the hawk's features more clearly as he inched forward a couple of steps. The feathers on the body were brown, like the feathers you might expect to see on a regular hawk, but they grew paler and turned to a colour similar to human skin from around the collarbone upwards, almost like a neckline on a formal blouse or dress or something. The gold feathers reached the shoulders. The beak just curved enough to make it clear that this was a hawk, and the colouration was strange: the base of the beak appeared to be a halfway point between the yellow colour you would expect and the colour of tanned skin, while the tip of the beak seemed to be a cross between the usual grey or black or whatever it was and some shade of lipstick.

And the eyes – God, the eyes – they were exactly like _Joy's_ eyes.

"No way," Raph murmured aloud.

The hawk-mutant's eyes narrowed, inspecting him intensely. Then the beak opened and out came a surprised version of the word, "_Raph_?"

The sound was similar to one you might expect a bird of prey to make, but it was definitely Joy's voice under there.

"Joy!?" he exclaimed in shock. "You're a mutant!?"

"Yes," the hawk – _Joy_ – said, somewhat defensively. "You too, huh?"

"Uh-huh. How long you been a mutant?"

"Since I was five," Joy said. "What about you?"

"Pretty much all my life," Raph shrugged.

Joy straightened up. She wasn't too much taller than Raph really, but her mutant form made her look larger than she really was. He almost took a step back. But she simply went over to a different part of the roof and sat down, gesturing for Raph to join her, which he did.

"I've been flying over New York for years now," she said. "Not for any reason; just because I can, really. You know, it's surprising, some of the things you can see from so high up. Then last year, you and – I assume – your brothers turned up."

Raph nodded. "Sensei used to let us above-ground to run to a store or something, but last year he finally let us start school. Then he couldn't really reign us in. We go on patrol nearly every night."

Joy cocked her head to one side. "Above-ground?"

Raph paused, unsure for a moment what to say. Then he shrugged to himself and suggested, "Why don't we take this back to my place? We can explain there."

To his surprise (and delight) Joy agreed. He called Leo, who turned out _not_ to be meeting Karai for once, and they headed home, Joy following overhead. Joy landed in the short, dead-end alley between the wall of their garden and the wall of the garden belonging to whoever it was who lived next to them, and turned human. For whatever reason – probably something to do with her mutation – her clothes had not torn when she changed; they were simply there. She wore, instead of her normal green shirt and matching pants, a brown jumpsuit with yellow legs and a neckline which matched the change in colouration of her feathers.

"It's some kind of special material," she explained. "I don't really get it. But the mutation passes through it or something."

Mikey shrieked in surprise when Raph and Leo walked through the door in their mutant forms, followed by a very human (in appearance) Joy Reno. He shouted something about _what the hell dude, what is wrong with you, we're in mutant form you can't let a human see us like this_ before Raph smacked him upside the head and explained that she was a mutant, too. Then they settled down for Joy to explain her story to them.

Raph recognised what he called the Flashback Expression. Splinter got the same distant, nostalgic and slightly inwards look when he thought (or told stories) about his life as a full-fledged human.

* * *

When she was about five or six – probably five, because she hadn't started doing martial arts yet – Joy Reno's parents took her on holiday to England. It was colder than America and it seemed to rain a lot, but it was a new place and she kind of liked it. Her mom was seriously into birds and owls and things, so about five days in, they had gone to this place which did handling experiences with birds of prey.

Joy, whose hair back then was so long it reached all the way to the small of her back, had wanted to go to the beach that day. She complained that it was really sunny and looked like beach weather, but her dad reasoned with her and she didn't sulk about it.

"It's Mom's choice today," Daddy said. "We'll go to the beach tomorrow."

Then he picked her up and sat her on his shoulders. She giggled happily as they walked into the bird place.

Dad said the vacation cost a lot of money so they wouldn't do it again for a while, but he didn't mind too much. And the bird thing was so much _fun_! Joy didn't think they were gonna let her do anything cool because she was only five, and some of the places they went to on other family trips didn't let her do cool stuff cos she was just a little kid, but they did bird handling for kids, too! They showed her how to get the birds to fly, and they let her put on one of those thick, heavy gloves and let the birds sit on her hand… with a bit of help, of course. They were pretty heavy, after all.

The last bird she got to handle before they left was a hawk who they called Shay. He sat perfectly content on Joy's hand, letting her feed and even pet him.

"I think he likes you," said a lady who worked there. "Shay's sweet, ent he. He likes kids."

Joy beamed proudly and continued to pet Shay, who fidgeted into a more comfortable position on her hand and then sat contentedly again.

When they left the bird place, Joy and her parents went on a walk through a nearby forest. They let her leave the path, but only if she stayed where they could see her at all times, and only if she didn't get hurt. She laughed giddily and began to explore.

Because England was colder than America – Mom and Dad said it was something to do with where it was in the world and where the wind came from – Joy wore jeans and a thin sweater, despite it being sunny and summer. Looking back on that day, thinking about the grass and wildflowers brushing her legs and arms, Joy would realise it was only those clothes which saved her from becoming a plant.

Because the next thing she knew, she had tripped over a rock or a log or something and fallen into a ditch. It wasn't too deep, so ordinarily the worst she should have done would be scraping her knee and scuffing her hands a bit. There was just one problem with that: the ditch wasn't empty.

To be fair, Joy was very lucky she didn't cut her hand on the glass of the broken container. It was just unlucky that her hand went into the green goo coming out of the container.

The pain started where her bare skin touched the goo. It didn't last long – ten, maybe twenty seconds – and it was the only time the transformations ever _hurt_, but she would later learn that it was so painful because it was rewriting every cell in her body; rewriting them so they could change on command.

Then the discomfort, which eleven years later Hamato Michelangelo would describe as feeling 'stretchy', started. Her nose and mouth became a beak; her hair became golden feathers which covered her face and ran down her back; her arms became wings. Feathers sprouted from her body and her legs changed, becoming birdlike. Clawed feet tore through her shoes, her shirt ripped where the wings developed and the back of her jeans split where a tail sprouted, but otherwise her body type remained the same and so her clothes stayed in-tact… more or less.

If her parents hadn't been keeping an eye on her, hadn't witnessed the transformation for themselves, they might not have believed it was their daughter down there. As it was, they could barely believe it anyway. Her mom ran to the ditch and pulled her out, careful not to touch any of the goo herself. Her dad ran to their rented car and fetched a raincoat to bundle her up in. They took Joy back to their hotel room. She was too shocked to say anything. For the rest of the afternoon, she just sat in her bed with the thin lace curtains closed to obscure the view from outside (even though they were high up) but the heavy, main curtains open.

Mom promised they'd think of something, which Joy knew meant they were going to try and think of a way to keep her new appearance a secret. They couldn't go to a doctor about it. She'd seen enough movies and television shows, even if she was only five, to know that if they did, the government would track her down or something.

For the rest of the day, Joy was in shock. When she woke up the next day and still looked like a hawk-girl, she was scared. Then she thought it was cool. By the fourth day she was fed up with it.

She didn't get to go to the beach. She managed to talk, but her voice sounded weird, like a hawk trying to form words. Her own, human voice was just a tiny undercurrent now. Still, she didn't want her parents to miss their vacation, and finally she persuaded them to leave her in the hotel room with the TV remote and a bunch of snacks and games, while they did _something_ to get their mind off what they were calling her _condition_. They were reluctant, but she wouldn't let the vacation be ruined for them just because she had fallen in some weird goo.

Joy was getting used to her new face. She examined it in the mirror. The base of her beak was almost the same colour as her face, and the tip was like a darker version of the colour of her mouth. Her eyes were just a _little_ bit brighter, but otherwise the same, and her eyesight now was _amazing_. And _wow, the things she could hear_!

The feathers on her body were hawk-brown up to her face, and spattered with the colour of her skin. She liked the gold feathers down her back best, though, because they mimicked her hair. It was… nice.

But she missed her human face.

What did her human face look like again? She remembered that she had almost shed her baby fat, and she still had those eyes, but they didn't used to be as bright as they were now. People said she was a beautiful child and would grow up to be a beautiful woman.

It was while she was sitting at the desk in front of the mirror, trying to picture her human face, that she began to feel weird – kind of stretchy – and, looking in the mirror, realised she could see her human face for _real_. She looked different to how she remembered. Her face was rounder and a little bit shorter, her nose a little bit more birdlike and slightly longer, and her hair didn't hang as straight as it used to.

It was just for a couple of seconds, and then it was gone.

But she knew she could do it. She could look human again!

Okay. The whole situation was now back to being cool. Way beyond cool, in fact.

So passport control was no problem getting home. Joy was simply bundled into thick clothes which her transformation wouldn't tear through, and she just changed when she needed to show her human face. It was tiring, but she kept at it. For a while after summer vacation ended her parents had to pretend she was really _really_ sick, but by Christmas she could be human again for long enough to do whole school days. An hour or two of being a hawk and she could do the school-day length of time as a human again.

Her parents were super protective for a while, but they were also super supportive. When one of her friends really got into it, they let her try out karate, which she _loved_, and her dad let her practise flying around the rooftop of their apartment building at night.

By the time she was eight, she was allowed to fly around other roofs, too.

Joy got into the _X-men_ cartoon for a while when she was ten, and that was when she discovered the word for what Mom was still calling her _condition_: mutation. She was a mutant now, not a human – not properly – not anymore. But she was cool with that. Mom was kind of in denial and didn't like Joy calling herself a mutant at first, but Joy thought it sounded _really awesome_ and Mom and Dad were cool with her being able to fly.

Joy was insecure for a bit during middle school. She tried making friends but ended up as an outcast instead, because she didn't want to tell anyone the big secret they all somehow knew she had. She got better at hiding it then.

When she was twelve, Joy could stay human (or hawk; whichever she wanted) for as long as she wanted. She went for an entire week without feathers, just because she could, before she missed flying and decided to change back. She was also friends on-and-off with a girl called Teresa, who could be a good friend when she wanted to be, but was nothing more than an outright _bitch_ at times. It had been that way since elementary.

Joy finally stopped being friends with Teresa on the first day of summer vacation after their freshman year at high school. She was sick of Teresa being all passive-aggressive and bossing her around and making her feel bad.

That summer, she underwent a different kind of transformation. She developed breasts, and started wearing clothes which suited her, namely green, because it looked good on her. She at long last had her hair cut to her shoulders, and was amused to discover that the feathers on her back were no longer golden. Apparently her colouration mimicked her human form. At some point that summer, she became more confident. When she walked into school, guys who hadn't given her a second glance last year were stopping for a moment, and she made good friends with people who actually _liked_ her.

And then, when she had just begun her junior year, Joy Reno met Raphael Hamato: a stocky guy about to turn sixteen and slightly on the short side, with red hair that stuck up seemingly of its own accord, and _very_ green eyes. He was essentially a fireball: a vessel of undiluted aggression when it came to fighting, with a heated (and slightly explosive) temper and a fiery personality, in her opinion. His fighting style was something she would compare to a bullet: direct and powerful, and more than capable of doing a good deal of damage.

He was also, she realised, a mutant. Like her.

* * *

"…and that pretty much brings you up to speed," she concluded.

"Fascinating," Donnie said. "Mutagen – the green goo you fell in – causes you to take the shape of whatever organic material you last touched."

"And the last organic material I touched was the hawk," Joy said. "Yeah, that makes sense. But why did it take me so much less time than you guys to stay human indefinitely?"

"Maybe because you were human in the first place," April offered up.

Raph nodded in agreement, but really he was in shock. Joy was a mutant… a pretty mutant. _Damn_. That one was definitely a surprise.

"You know," Leo said, "we've been fighting the Purple Dragons and the Foot clan. We could always use another martial artist on our side."

"Yeah," Raph jumped in, crossing his fingers that she'd join them. "Whatcha say?"

Joy smirked. "Tell you what. If I'm in the area and you guys could use some help, I'll drop in. How does that sound?" She looked straight at Raph when she said it, and he tried to hide a faint blush by folding his arms and looking away until it faded.

"Sounds good," he choked out. "Definitely."

The others missed the face April pulled: she chewed her lip a little and looked down thoughtfully, thinking that she wished she could help the guys, too.

"Sweet," Joy said. "Well, I gotta head home now. Maybe I'll catch you tomorrow night."

Joy seemed not to notice that the blush returned, _worse_ than before, when she punched Raph affectionately on the shoulder and left. But the others did. They left him in _no_ doubt about that.

Would the damn teasing never end?


	12. Purple-Haired Dragon

**A/N: awesome, chapter twelve! Hurray for more long-ish chapters; over 5000 words!**

**Thor-Born: Yeah, England's probably kind of a weird place for there to be any mutagen. Probably an early dump site. Personally I live in England and I only get to go to the beach once a year if that, so I hassle my parents about it. Out of interest, what would you want to go see? Yeah that's true; she hasn't seen his rat form yet. Awesome! Thanks, I'll have to watch that when I get the time!  
****The potatoe one: Thanks! I have WAY too much fun making Raph get all flustered. Haha, how'd you guess about April's training? Yeah, hopefully the full backstory will come out some time in this story. I think it was about four in the morning for me when you posted the review, but thanks anyway! You have a great week, too!  
****Tmntlover2013: Thank you!  
****Memmek10k: Glad you like it! Thanks so much  
****Juanita27: Thanks so very much! I had a really long day when I read your review, and I was exhausted and not feeling great, but that really cheered me up (and inflated my ego a bit)**

**I'm really sorry that this chapter is really late, guys, but I've had a lot of college work to do recently, AND I had to rewrite most of it. Hopefully I'll be back to my once-a-week updates again soon. So enjoy a bit of drama. This chapter focuses mostly (directly or not) on Mikey and Angel, because there was originally a scene in here which helped me decide it would be a semi-human AU instead of a completely-human AU. Also, I mention Casey's dad having died because although in the 2012 series he lives with his dad and sister, I like his mother from the 2k3 series. The 'sister' in this case is Angel**

**In other news you probably didn't want or need to know, I now have hair which is pretty much the same colour as Angel's. And just for the record, it looks awesome**

**Also, please let me know what you think of the flashbacks, because I'm thinking about either adding more or putting them in a separate fic**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Purple-Haired Dragon**

_Say something, I'm giving up on you  
__I'll be the one if you want me to  
__Anywhere I would've followed you  
__Say something, I'm giving up on you  
_~ _Say Something_ by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera

A little girl with black hair, maybe five or six years old, sat on the steps outside her Grandma's apartment, playing with the racing cars which belonged to her big brother Ryan. Ryan always had really cool stuff, but he never let her near it before they moved into Grandma's place. She didn't get why, but he was letting her play with a load of his cool toys so she didn't say anything.

The door opened and closed behind her and Ryan came out, pulling on his jacket. He sat down next to her on the step.

"How's it going?" he asked. The little girl looked up.

"The red one's winning," she said. "Ryan, when are we going home?"

Ryan didn't say anything. They'd been living with Grandma for a couple of weeks now and his little sister didn't grasp the concept that their parents were dead. He'd hinted at it, but honestly, he didn't have the heart to tell her. So instead he hugged her. When he thought about their parents, he needed to know his little sister was safe.

This was the first time he'd even had the guts to let her play outside. He was just feeling a bit paranoid, Grandma said; this neighbourhood was one of the safest around. Not like people left their cars unlocked or their doors open at night, but it was safe. Cars rarely came past and there were always kids out playing. If anything happened to one person, the rest all saw it.

"I have to go out to the store," Ryan said. "You be good, okay?"

The girl nodded. "I will. Promise."

Ryan still thought he'd feel better if he knew someone was keeping an eye on her. A couple of houses down, he saw a dark-haired kid a couple of years older than his sister, reading a comic book about a hockey player. Ryan approached the kid.

"Can you look after my little sister while I run to the store?" Ryan asked. "I'll give you five bucks."

The kid looked up from his comic. He looked at Ryan, looked at the little girl, and looked back to Ryan. "Okay," he shrugged. Ryan thanked the kid and headed off to the store, promising he'd pay him when he got back. The kid got up and went to sit by the little girl.

"Hey," he said. "Can I join?"

"Sure," the girl said, "but the race just ended. I'm gonna make them spy-cars instead."

"Sweet. Can I be the bad guy?"

"Yeah." The little girl gave him a small, dark van.

"I'm Casey, by the way," the boy introduced. "Casey Jones."

"I'm Angel," the little girl said. "Angel Bridge."

It had been nine or ten years since then. Angel and Casey had really hit it off, in a way. They were friends, practically siblings, and Casey sometimes actually called Angel his kid sister.

He had been ultra-supportive when she told him she wanted to dye her hair last year. He introduced her to his friend April, who was pretty cool too, because he said April could take her to go get her hair dyed somewhere they knew how to do it properly. When she was being bullied in middle school, Casey taught her self-defence so she could beat the bozos up (and if that didn't work, he said, he'd sort them out himself). When she found out her parents had died, Ryan had been there to comfort her, and Casey had been there to help take her mind off it. And when Ryan moved out and his room seemed empty and lonely, Casey even blew off hockey practise to move all her stuff into Ryan's old room so it wouldn't seem so bad. She wanted her Grandma to pick what to do with her old room but her Grandma let her choose, so she put up a punching bag in one corner and Grandma's old piano in the other. Casey helped with that, too.

And Angel supported Casey in return. When his father passed she comforted him like Ryan had done for her, then when he felt a bit better she helped him get his mind off it. When he lost the first of his teeth to a hockey fight she was right there with a box of painkillers and a wad of tissues to bleed onto. And just occasionally when he wanted help impressing a girl, Angel would play the role of the sweet little kid he had taken under his wing and who looked up to him _so_ much.

To be fair, there wasn't much acting involved in that one. She really _did_ look up to him.

Most of the time.

It wasn't that Angel _hated_ Casey, she thought as she flipped through a photo album of her youth from before digital cameras had been invented… and some from after, taken on disposable cameras so the album could be filled up. No; she didn't hate him at all.

But she _was_ annoyed at him.

He was always running off God-knew-where at night, dressed up in all the hockey gear he owned apart from his skates and school jersey. Got home any time between midnight and three in the morning (four, once). And whenever she asked what he was doing, he'd tell her she didn't need to know.

So by that standard, he shouldn't be allowed to bug her about where she was and who she was with and what she was doing, right? Oh no. Nuh-uh. No way should he get away with that.

So, Thursday night, Angel decided she was feeling rebellious and snuck out.

* * *

Apparently the first of October counted as the beginning of the countdown to Halloween, because April found herself recruited into assisting the planning of Irma's Halloween party. Irma didn't generally throw _big_ parties, usually keeping it to about ten people, tops, but when she threw a party she really went for it. And that meant entire weekends of preparation.

If April didn't visit the guys after school pretty much every day, she didn't think she'd be able to survive. She was way too used to seeing them pretty much all the time by now. It was going to be a _long_ month.

It was only the first Friday, too. April was now at a mandatory sleepover at Irma's place, where they would eat ice cream, put on scary movies and start planning for the party. Normally she'd be looking forward to this, but right now she was distracted.

It was great that the guys had managed to get the hawk mutant on their side, because now they had something their enemies wouldn't be expecting. And it was even better – for Raph at least – that the hawk mutant had turned out to be Joy, because he didn't have to worry anymore about telling Joy his secret if the ever got together… not that he was probably worrying about it. But it made her want to help out more. Karai was apparently siding with them right now, and Joy was going to help them if they needed it, but April… she didn't even know any martial arts.

She decided she would ask Master Splinter to train her.

"April?" Irma asked, just before they began. "Are you alright? Normally when we do this you're… well, not all hyped up. You know what I mean. Less distracted."

Dammit. She'd been hoping Irma wouldn't notice. Or that the thought of a sleepover would stop her from thinking on it.

"Ooh, I know what it is! You're thinking about Donnie, aren't you?"

April leaned over from her spot on the couch to flick Irma's arm. "_No_," she said defensively, "I am _not_. What's your obsession with us, anyway?"

Just because Irma had caught her thinking about Donnie once – _once_ – didn't mean she –

"Oh, it's not just me," Irma said nonchalantly. "It's actually most of the school. I mean, a lot of people are coming up to me, asking if you guys are a couple or not."

April felt her face heat up a little. She knew she should be thinking that this was _really_ bad and if any of the guys' enemies found out what was going on they were screwed, but all she could focus on for the next moment or two was bringing her heart rate back down to normal. "What are you telling them?" she asked.

"You're getting there," Irma shrugged. "But that's not important. If something's wrong, you know you can tell me, right? I'm your friend; that's what I'm here for."

April hid a wince. What was she supposed to say? _Sorry Irma, I'm just kind of distracted because I've been hanging around with ninjas who are trying to keep the city safe even though they're being hunted by another ninja clan AND a street gang, and I'm kind of stressing because I can't do anything to help them. Oh, and they're turtles. And I think I'm developing a crush on one of them._

Yeah, no. Definitely _not_ going to happen.

"I know," she said instead. "But it's nothing. Really. Just me being silly. Come on, let's start planning. Who's on the guest list?"

"You can invite Donnie if you want," Irma winked.

That gave April an idea. "Irma, can we have a more… private party this year?"

Irma raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing much. Decorations, costumes, movies and a bunch of Halloween party games." She implied heavily that the guys had never been to an actual Halloween party before but left out the fact that they'd been able to go trick-or-treating above-ground every year because people always thought they were in costume.

Irma smirked. "As much as I'd love to have a party consisting of only two girls and four guys," she said, "I'm pretty sure my parents would kill me. Even if they _are_ going to be away."

"I'm pretty sure they could bring dates," April said. "That might even the score up a bit."

"All of them?" Irma huffed. April didn't know if she was serious. "Oh, alright then. I guess I could swing that."

"Awesome. I'll tell them they're coming," April said. Unless Splinter said otherwise, it was pretty much guaranteed that they'd go.

Donnie would definitely go if she asked him to; he'd probably agree before she even finished her sentence. Especially if she asked him to go, more specifically, with _her_. Which, for the record, she planned to do. Not because she liked him or anything. Because Irma was mad on boys and if one of the guys showed up stag she'd probably hit on him all night. The thought made April feel slightly jealous. Which, really, made it sound like she was going to ask him to go with her because she liked him. And that totally wasn't it.

Alright, maybe a little.

If he wasn't too excited, which was exactly like him to be honest, Mikey would probably bring Angel. Well, he would probably drag her along. Now there was a sight April would pay to see: Angel was the most stubborn person in the world when she didn't want to do something and Mikey was the most stubborn person in the world when he _did_. And if Angel didn't want to go to the Halloween party but Mikey did… well, whatever resulted would probably make the front page worldwide.

Leo had scored a date with Karai, so there was a chance he'd bring her if he could get away with it. April and the others had warmed up to the idea slightly, considering how so far she hadn't given them any reason to believe it might be a trap. Raph still wasn't a fan of the idea, but Splinter seemed okay with it as long as Leo was careful.

Raph, if she'd agree to it, would probably want to bring Joy along. April decided to recommend the idea, and to try and put in a good word for him to Joy. She didn't think she wanted to know how it would turn out if Raph came to the party stag and Irma decided to take a liking to him. It wouldn't be pretty.

She wouldn't bother to re-invite Casey. Sure, she had asked Casey a couple of weeks ago if he was going this year, but she knew he wouldn't show unless some goon ran into Irma's place.

But yeah. She was pretty sure Raph, Donnie, Leo and Mikey would go to the Halloween party.

* * *

Mikey and his bros were out on patrol when they spotted a bunch of Purple Dragons boosting a store. They paused on the rooftop.

"Looks like there's just enough to give us some exercise," Leo said. "Okay, guys! Let's send these Dragons back to their –"

"_Stop_," Donnie, Raph and Mikey warned. Leo was freaking infamous among them for his bad wordplay. Worse than Donnie's science puns, Splinter's trolling, the way Mikey's brain worked and the occasional bad joke from Raph.

The four of them leapt into action. They jumped off the roof and landed silently on either side of the alley the Purple Dragons were using as their escape route: Raph and Donnie at the end which lead immediately onto the street; Leo and Mikey at the other end.

The Dragons stopped in their tracks when they realised what was going on. They were trapped in the alley and surrounded by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mikey loved that name for them but the guys weren't sold on it just yet) and the store door had just swung shut behind the last one out. And auto-locked.

"Booyakasha," Mikey said under his breath. It would have sounded cool if they did, but he and his bros didn't actually _pounce_. What really happened was, they let the Dragons try and get past them. Most of them were knocked out pretty much straight away.

There were only three standing soon: two at Donnie and Raph's end, and one in the middle. The one in the middle was young; younger than the other Purple Dragons. They made a dash for the fire escape on the other side of the alley, dropping their bag of whatever had been stolen. Leo nodded to Mikey, who was on the first level of the fire escape in an instant, twirling his nunchucks in preparation to strike when the Purple Dragon got close enough. Just a couple more seconds and –

He froze, almost dropping his 'chucks in the process.

_No. God no. Please, NO._

He could see the Purple Dragon's face. Brown eyes, pierced eyebrow, purple hair pulled into pigtails. It was Angel. Her eyes were wide with shock, mouth open slightly and her face pale. Her hands were shaking.

Angel was a Purple Dragon. And she was _scared_ of him.

_I can't do this._

His hands fell to his sides. For a second they just stared at each other. Then Angel's face hardened like she was gathering up all her courage, and she pushed past him and ran up the fire escape, onto the roof of the building, where she would probably use the fire escape on the other side to get back to ground level.

But Mikey wasn't thinking about that. He was still staring at the spot where she had been, trying to work out whether she had _really_ been there. He wanted to believe he was just seeing things, but he knew he wasn't. Angel was with the Purple Dragons.

"Dude!" Raph yelled practically in his ear as he and the others jumped onto the fire escape. "You were right on top of him! What the f– woah. You okay, Mikey?"

Mikey didn't say anything. How was he supposed to answer? He was already trying to fight back tears.

_Angel's a Purple Dragon. My best friend's a Purple Dragon, and I _scare_ her. Of course I'm not alright._

Donnie was the next to speak up. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was Angel," he managed to choke out. The shock was starting to make him shake. "It was _Angel_, dudes. And she was scared."

His brothers fixed him with sympathetic stares and hugged him. Leo put one hand on each of his shoulders.

"Come on, Mikey," he said gently. "Let's get you home."

"You should get some rest," Donnie agreed. Raph didn't say anything but looked like he felt bad about yelling.

Mikey nodded weakly. He felt like he wanted to go to sleep and just never wake up.

* * *

Angel didn't stop running until after she got home. When she did, she climbed through her bedroom window, locked it, and then went round locking every door and window leading to the outside. When she was done, she returned to her room, locked her own door, kicked off her shoes, pulled down the blind over the window and sat on the bed.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and all she could think was, _Holy crap._

The guy from last night, who had invited her to join the Purple Dragons when she had brought down a couple of weaklings who tried to grab her, had warned her that they were having trouble with vigilantes. He said there were five in total: one who flew solo, wore a hockey mask and carried a bunch of hockey sticks and baseball bats; and four who ran together and looked like turtles.

Well, no shit. She thought he meant they were just _dressed_ as turtles, but if those were costumes, they were damn convincing.

Those vigilante turtles were good fighters, too. They had their own weapons and fought like demons. And then there was the one that had almost stopped her. The one with nunchucks, who had let her go. Should she be thankful that she didn't get knocked out too, or paranoid that they might have let her go to follow her?

Angel decided she didn't want to know. One thing was for damn sure, though. After she passed her initiation, she was _not_ gonna let herself be that freaked out again. Ever.

Right now, Angel just wanted to go to bed and sleep off the shock she thought she was going into. But she didn't think she'd be able to sleep tonight. Her mind kept going back to the look on that vigilante turtle's face when he lowered his weapons (she was pretty sure it was a guy). He genuinely looked like a deer caught in a set of headlights. To be fair, she probably looked the same.

But what _really_ freaked her out was that he seemed to… to _recognise_ her.

She turned her bedside lamp on and curled up underneath the covers like a little kid trying to keep the Monster Under The Bed away.

* * *

The next morning, Donnie was up at eight exactly. He'd set an alarm in his lab, knowing he'd fall asleep working on that disk Karai had given Leo. He wanted to be working on it non-stop to get past the security on the disks, but the others wouldn't let him after the scare he'd given them on the lead-up to their mutation day. Whenever he got the chance, though, he was working on it.

The problem was, it was painstakingly slow-going. He was working with programs he'd never seen or even _read about_ before. So far one of the old computers he'd repaired was out of commission, but he felt like he was gradually making headway. The programs seemed to be designed by whoever had made the files on them. There was definitely something important on this disc.

Just after eleven, there came a gentle knock at the door. Sitting with his elbow on his computer desk and his face in his palm, Donnie turned to the door and called for whoever it was to come in. He was pleasantly surprised to see April enter the lab in her usual shorts, yellow t-shirt, boots and dark tights, as well as a green coat. It must be getting cold outside.

"A-April!" he exclaimed, immediately on his feet (the wheeled computer chair rolled back) and feeling internally mortified when he heard himself stutter. He'd thought he was over that by now. Maybe it was just because he wasn't expecting to see her today. That certainly seemed to be why his heartbeat had suddenly picked up. "I thought you were helping Irma plan her Halloween party today."

April shrugged. "We got finished early. I thought I'd stop by and see if you needed any help."

Donnie blushed. "Actually I've just been working on that disk Karai copied. The security's taking a while, though."

He grabbed his chair and turned back to the computer as April came to sit by him in a different chair. He realised nothing had actually happened since the last command he had given it, made a sound somewhere between a groan, a growl and a whimper of frustration, and planted his forehead on the desk for dramatic effect.

April gave him a small, warm smile and a sweet giggle. He picked his head up and turned to her, the corners of his mouth pulling up slightly when he heard her laugh.

"What?"

"You have the exact same look I get when I'm stuck on an article," April said. Did he dare to venture that she'd said it fondly? "Except my skin doesn't go _that_ green."

Even through his stress over the disk, Donnie released a small chuckle. The sound stopped in his throat when April stood up and grabbed his hand. In his turtle form, his hand looked to be six times the size of hers.

"Come on," she instructed, tugging on his hand gently. "I know what to do."

"What are we going to do?" Donnie asked, standing up and allowing April to lead him over to the door.

"We're going ou – for a walk," April said, looking away as though she was hiding a blush. "Go change. Trust me; some outside air always helps."

Ten minutes later, Donnie was walking beside April in his usual purple shirt and a white zip-up hoodie, which April had jokingly said made him look a little bit like a scientist. He almost wished he was brave enough to take her hand like she had done to him twice – _twice_; he almost couldn't believe his luck – but he wasn't, so instead he kept his hands in the pockets of the hoodie.

"Is Mikey hanging out with Angel again?" April asked. "I didn't see him when I arrived."

Donnie winced. "No, he's still in bed."

"Really?" April was surprised. Donnie was happy she knew them well enough to find Mikey's sudden routine change shocking. "But isn't Mikey always the first one up, after you and Splinter?"

Donnie nodded solemnly. "Patrol last night was… hard for him," he explained, choosing his words as carefully as possible.

A worried frown crossed April's face. "He's not hurt, right?"

"Physically, no," Donnie said. "Emotionally, though… he's not doing too good."

"What happened?"

Donnie explained how Mikey had recognised Angel among the group of Purple Dragons they had gone to stop last night. Had not taken it well. Had been down since she ran off and was now asleep because Donnie had instructed him to get some rest.

April made a sympathetic sound. "That must've been hard on him."

"It was," Donnie agreed. "She left pretty fast when she realised he wasn't going to hit her. He said she was scared."

"I know what might cheer him up," April said. "I talked Irma into having a Halloween party 'specially for you guys. He'll love it."

Donnie nodded. "That might help."

There was a pause. Then, in a small-ish voice and with the tiniest, cutest hint of a blush on her cheeks, April said, "Donnie?"

He turned, waiting for her to say whatever it was she had to say.

"Do you want to go to that party, uh, specifically with me?"

Donnie blushed. Was… was this _really_ happening? "I'd love to," he said immediately.

"Great," April said. She looked… really happy. And it suited her.

She took his hand and they continued walking. Her grip was firm, like she was confident that he wouldn't mind. Was he really that obvious?

* * *

Even ten was a surprisingly long lie-in for Michelangelo. But what concerned Splinter was that he was not even up at three in the afternoon. His sons had explained the problem. Michelangelo's friend, Angel, was among the Purple Dragons they had encountered last night. Michelangelo had gone into shock, and had been sent to bed upon returning home, but they had not seen him since. Raphael had been sent to check on him earlier and had said he was still asleep, with Klunk curled up next to him.

This was concerning.

Raphael and Leonardo were having a marathon of racing games, the agreement being that the winner would be the first of them to learn to drive. Donatello had taught himself a long time ago; all he needed was to pass his test, so he and April were in his laboratory, working on the disk Karai had given them. Speaking of Donatello, he had returned from his walk with April and had given Raphael and Leonardo the news that they had been invited to a Halloween party held by a friend of April's, and were each allowed to bring a guest. He had glowed with happiness when he informed his brothers that he would be going with April. Splinter and the others were happy for him.

But back to the task at hand. Splinter came to his son's room, paused a moment and opened the door.

The room was still remarkably clean… for Michelangelo. He had never been good at keeping places clean, but he had truly made an effort for Klunk. There were jeans and pyjamas strewn over the floor, but unlike their home in the sewers, it was a contained mess. Most of the mess was by the sides of his bed or pushed into his walk-in closet.

Raphael had been right: Michelangelo was indeed asleep. He was curled up on his side, something Splinter had not seen him do since he was a small child, when he had nightmares. Klunk was curled up with Michelangelo – again, just as Raphael had said – and appeared to be attempting to make him feel better. The small street cat had curled up against Michelangelo's plastron. Michelangelo had wrapped an arm around Klunk at some point to help comfort himself, and Klunk's small head rested on Michelangelo's forearm.

The cat flicked its eyes over to Splinter and purred softly. Splinter smiled; even as a rat, this cat liked him. Animals were more tolerant than some humans when it came to appearances.

Splinter sat on the bed beside Michelangelo and shook his shoulder, switching into Father Mode. Michelangelo stirred and moaned a little.

"_Michelangelo_," Splinter said in Japanese, "_it is time to wake up. We are concerned about you._" He had always comforted Michelangelo, after a nightmare, in Japanese.

Michelangelo opened his eyes and uttered a quiet, "_Hey, sensei._"

"_Your brothers told me what happened last night,_" Splinter said. "_I am sorry to remind you, but we must talk about it._"

Michelangelo looked downcast and subconsciously petted Klunk, who did not seem too pleased when he moved but happily curled up on his lap when he sat up.

"_Am I right in believing that you have feelings for this girl?_" Splinter asked.

Michelangelo paused, seeming to think it over. Then he nodded. Splinter wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"_You must not feel disheartened,_" he said. "_You can speak to any of us you need to. Leonardo's situation is the closest to what you are experiencing._"

His son nodded, leaning into the hug. "_Hai, Father._"

"Shall I tell you a story?" Splinter offered, in English this time. Stories always cheered Michelangelo up. "This is a true story from Japan. Long ago, there were two rival villages. They did not get along, and had been at odds with one another for as long as living memory. One day, a young boy was exploring, when he met a young girl, who was also exploring. The two met again and again, and became good friends, until the parents of the children became suspicious, and followed them. The parents discovered that the young boy came from one rival village, and the young girl came from the other. They immediately took their children home and forbade them from seeing one another."

"No!" Michelangelo exclaimed. He often reverted to his childhood when a story was being told and was frequently enraptured by them.

Splinter nodded. "Years passed, and the young boy grew into a young man. Like his friends, he too came to strongly dislike the rival village, although he did not dislike the village so much as the others, because he still remembered the girl he had been friends with in his childhood. One night, the men from his village went to the other village, with the intention of causing trouble. While he was there, he decided to look for the girl he had been friends with as a child, and he found her sitting under a tree they used to play by, crying."

"Why was she crying?" Michelangelo asked in a small voice.

"That is what the young man asked," Splinter said. "He approached the girl and asked what was wrong, and without looking at him, she recognised him and revealed that she was being made to marry a man she did not care for. The young man took pity on his childhood friend, and said he would marry her instead, so she would not have to marry a man she had no feelings for. The girl looked at him then, and the young man saw that she had grown into a beautiful young woman."

Michelangelo, who knew Splinter often told stories which deliberately reflected the situations he and his sons found themselves in, realised what Splinter was saying and blushed. Splinter chose to ignore this and continue with his story.

"She asked the young man why he would want to marry her, even though they came from rival villages. The young man answered that they were still friends, and where they came from would not change that."

"Then what happened?" Michelangelo asked.

"The two were married, and they eventually had many children and grandchildren, who also had children and grandchildren… one of whom moved to New York and adopted four baby turtles." Splinter was never sure if he believed the story his grandfather had told him, but he knew his great-great-grandparents _had_ come from separate villages. And he may have taken some creative license with the story, for Michelangelo's sake. "Do you see what the moral of the story is, my son?"

"I think so," Michelangelo said. "But wasn't the girl scared of the young man?"

_Ah._ So this was the problem. "She was at first," Splinter invented, "until she recognised her old friend."

Michelangelo knelt up – Klunk moved somewhat reluctantly from his lap – and gave Splinter a warm hug. "Thanks, Dad," he whispered. Splinter hugged his son in return.

"Now," he said, "shall we go downstairs and have something to eat?"

"Can I have leftover pizza?"

"Of course you may, my son."


	13. October

**A/N: chapter thirteen! Hell yeah! And lookie, it's the stupidly late Halloween one is finally here! WARNING FOR OVER 9000 WORDS because I decided to fit a whole month into one chapter**

**I'm using the 2k3 incarnation of Hun here because he hasn't made his debut on the show yet. Same with Bebop, Rocksteady and the '87 series. Thanks to Thor-Born for more cool ideas! Also, small shout-out to Leo's design in the 2014 film with his costume because it reminded me of **_**The Warriors**_** and I am absolutely in love with that movie. Oh, and my own slight take on Mikey's Turtle Titan costume**

**Also, have a little bit of Irmangelo for those of you whose ship sunk in the 2k12 show.**

**Oh yeah, and I've decided to make a series of these stories (one for each year) so when I update with chapter fourteen, this story's going to have a slightly different title. Depending on what fits in the text box, it'll either be **_**Mysteries of High School: Sophomore Year**_**, or **_**MoHS: Sophomore Year**_**. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up!**

**Memmek10k: Glad you like it! They were just being grossly adorable in the last chapter, but they're getting there now  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks! I'll try  
****Thor-Born: I feel really bad for Mikey too, but at least he has a great family to cheer him up. Yeah, the Halloween party would draw attention somehow. Thanks so much for the lovely (and nice and long) review!  
****Divergent4mockingjay: Thanks so much!  
****Gumi Langley: I'm glad you do!  
****The potatoe one: Thanks for the lovely review… again! Yeah, it's definitely time for April to start learning ninjitsu. That Halloween party idea is really good, too… I'm just gonna go sit under my desk and cry because I didn't think of it. Yep  
****Rachel Lyse Brook: I am too. Thanks so much!**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: October**

_Summer has come and passed  
__The innocent can never last  
__Wake me up when September ends  
_~ _Wake Me Up When September Ends_ by Green Day

With it safely concluded that Leo would be the first to learn to drive when Donnie passed his test, April promised Mikey she'd go round to Angel's place on Sunday and talk to her. She knew it was kind of weird, because if Casey was Angel's overprotective big brother, April was really the big brother's cool friend. But it had been ages since she'd seen Angel, and Mikey was so grateful he'd actually offered April a slice of his leftover pizza.

If that wasn't gratitude, the others said, they didn't know what was.

April called Angel's grandmother, not knowing Angel's cell phone number and not entirely wanting to have to admit she had to get it from Mikey. Angel's grandmother seemed pleased to hear from her, so April hitched a ride with her dad.

"I hope you can talk my Angel into coming out of her room," Angel's grandmother said when she let April in. "I don't know what happened, but she must've had an awful fright, because she was locked away in there all day yesterday and she wouldn't even speak to Casey about it."

This was what April was afraid of. It was Mikey's place, not hers, to tell Angel that he was a mutant, so unless Angel said something about it, she had to find a way to convince Angel the guys weren't all that bad without actually using the words _mutants_, _turtles_, _ninjas_ or _Purple Dragons_.

Splinter was way better at this stuff than she was. Ugh.

Angel's room was at the first landing, on the right. There was a big sign on the door that said '**ANGEL'S ROOM**', with the word 'room' crossed out and '**LAIR**' scribbled underneath in sharpie. April knocked on the door and then opened it.

The room was a square shape with wooden floors and walls covered in posters and photos. There was a window opposite the door, in the middle of the room. Angel's bed was against the windowed wall, her desk on the left wall and her dresser on the right. There was a small bookshelf by the dresser, and a TV on the desk, by her laptop. An old antique mirror hung by the dresser. Angel herself was sitting in bed, fully dressed and angled so she could watch something on her TV. She turned the sound down slightly when April came in. It looked like she didn't want to talk.

Tough.

"Hey, Angel," April said, shutting the door and sitting on the bed next to Angel. "Are you okay? Your grandmother said you had a nasty shock."

"It wasn't that bad," Angel shrugged. "Just me being a stupid kid." Her voice was really rough from lack of sleep.

"You're not a stupid kid," April said. "You're nearly fifteen, Ange. If something scared you it can't have been stupid."

Angel offered April a small smile. This was why she was the big brother's cool friend. Casey still wanted to see Angel as the little girl who didn't realise she'd just lost her parents, whereas April knew Angel was growing up and wanted to be treated like she was.

There were rings under Angel's eyes and her voice sounded like she hadn't slept in days. April decided to see if she could think of anything Splinter-worthy to say. She looked at the antique mirror again and recalled a book she had read not long ago. She had remembered a particular part of it because she swore it had happened to her once.

"Hey," she said, "I was reading this book recently and it reminded me of something. Want me to tell you?"

"Okay," Angel shrugged noncommittally.

_"_When I was in elementary, one of the bathrooms used to have this mirror with the corner chipped off. Instead of replacing it, they always got one of the classes to make a fancy border to go around it and cover the chip up. When I was in second or third grade, the border looked a bit like the one on that mirror you've got up there."

"It was my mom's," Angel said. "It was her favourite mirror."

April put an arm around Angel. She still missed her mom sometimes, too. "Want me to keep telling you this story?"

"Sure."

"Okay. The year they had the antique-looking border put up, someone started a rumour that the mirror was magic, and the corner was chipped off so you could tell which one it was. In the end the school had to get rid of the mirror, because people kept lining up to look in it. For some reason we all thought that if you looked in the mirror at just the right angle, you'd see someone who was going to have a big impact on your life."

Angel glanced at the mirror on her wall, stiffened and grabbed the remote. Just before she turned the TV off, April looked around and saw that some kind of commercial was showing footage of a turtle.

_Okay. That was lousy timing._

"Who did you see?" Angel asked.

"I didn't see anyone," April shrugged. "I didn't get to. They took the mirror away before I got the chance." She left out the fact that she had tried it in a hand-mirror on the way home and had seen… well, she wasn't totally sure.

"Oh."

Well, that topic was dead. But at least she had some of Angel's attention now. Time to try a different approach. What could she say to get someone talking? It wasn't like she could say that Mikey had spent most of yesterday asleep because he hadn't been able to handle it when he realised Angel was a Purple Dragon. And she couldn't just say _I know you're a Purple Dragon_, either, because then she'd have to explain how she knew and why, aside from the obvious _Purple Dragons are bad_ crap, it bothered her.

Before she left the guys' place last night, she'd asked Splinter if he'd train her, too. Now she wished she'd asked him for a crash course in storytelling as well. It always worked when he did it.

She was spared the trouble of thinking up a new topic, though, when Angel's cell phone rang. Angel checked the caller ID and raised an eyebrow. She answered.

"Yeah? … No, I have a friend over … okay, when? … Really? You sure? … Okay. See ya' in a few." She rang off, hopped out of bed and said, "Sorry April, but I gotta go. Something important came up."

"Oh. Uh, okay. I'll just go visit some other friends then."

"Thanks." Angel pulled on her shoes and grabbed her cell. She let April walk to the door of the apartment with her but then tore off up the street. April thought for a minute about following her, but Angel was small and light, which made her fast. April decided she would go see how the guys were doing.

* * *

Angel didn't know what she had been expecting when her cell phone rang, but it sure wasn't a summons from Hun. He was the guy who led the Purple Dragons, and while all Dragons were expected to have his number programmed into their cells, Angel wasn't even initiated yet. He didn't even contact actual Purple Dragons much; mostly if there were any specific orders he passed them down through others.

So in a nutshell, being contacted directly by Hun and told to report to him immediately was a big deal. Angel quickly found the warehouse the Purple Dragons hid out in, gave the salute to show she wasn't just some dumb kid snooping around, and headed in. The office he had summoned her to was set apart from the main area, down a corridor which still seemed dark despite the overhead lights and even the footsteps of her boots echoed loudly on the concrete floor.

Angel jumped back in surprise when she knocked on the door and it wasn't opened by a human. They were humanoid, though. One looked like a warthog with a mohawk, and the other looked like a rhino dressed up as G.I. Joe or something. They were blocking the doorway and she couldn't see past them.

"It's dat girl ya' wanted to talk to, boss," the rhino said. Judging by the way he said it, he wasn't very bright. He and the warthog seemed to have the combined IQ of a bar of chocolate.

"Then don't just stand there, imbecile," a voice, which Angel assumed belonged to Hun, snapped from inside the room. "Let her in."

The rhino and the warthog moved to either side of the doorway to let Angel in. The office wasn't huge but it definitely wasn't small, the floor was concrete and there was a computer desk at the back of the room. A big table, surrounded by chairs and covered in papers at one end, sat in the middle. More papers cluttered the computer desk.

Hun stood on the opposite side of the big table. He was enormous, practically a mountain, with a purple dragon tattooed all the way up his left arm from wrist to shoulder. A pale blonde ponytail hung over one shoulder and he wore dark clothes. His voice was deep, intimidating, but his movements implied that he intended her no ill will.

"Sit down, Angel," Hun offered, gesturing to one of the seats near her. She took it, feeling tiny because the chair and table were clearly designed for someone as massive as Hun, and he snapped at the rhino and the warthog to fetch her a drink. They scampered off and Angel adjusted her chair so it was higher in comparison to the table.

Hun watched them go with a look of contempt on his face.

"Mutants," he said dismissively. "Normally they're a lot smarter… but there are always exceptions."

"Mutants?" Angel asked, cocking her head slightly to one side.

Hun nodded. "Created from a substance called mutagen. Typically they look like animals with human characteristics… like Bebop and Rocksteady do. I hear you had your own encounter with some mutants on Friday night."

Angel gulped. "You mean those – those turtles?" she did _not_ want to relive that again so soon.

Hun nodded and the mutants – Bebop and Rocksteady – came back in with a mug of oil-coloured coffee and set it in front of her, then retreated to the doorway. "Those turtle freaks take out some of the best Purple Dragons on a nightly basis. On Friday they beat the snot out of everyone in that alleyway with the exception of you," Hun explained. "How did you get away without a scratch?"

Reluctantly, Angel thought back two nights. She'd tried her best to block most of it out of her memory, but she remembered bits. Putting a rock through the window of that store as her first test. Being tossed a small bag of things that had been swiped. The others being beaten up by a bunch of giant turtles. The fire escape.

"I dunno," Angel said honestly, trying to conceal the fact that the turtle's expression still freaked her out. "One of them had the chance but… I dunno."

Hun nodded. "I see. And you've _never_ seen these turtles before?" His voice implied that if she was lying, she was in _big_ trouble.

"Never," she confirmed, trying to hold her voice steady.

"I see," Hun said thoughtfully. "Fong saw the whole thing. He claims the freak dropped his weapons at the last minute. Is that true?"

"Y-yeah," Angel stuttered, trying to remember. "Yeah, I – I guess so."

"Hmm. This could be useful. Perhaps the freak has a soft spot for you."

Angel really didn't know how to feel about that.

Flattered should probably be the response. There were a lot of miniature high school stereotypes in her grade and guys didn't tend to go for tomboys like her anyway, so she'd never really expected anyone in particular to take a liking to her. Then again, she'd never really expected to take a liking to anyone either, but Mikey – wait. No. That wasn't the point.

On the other hand, considering the guy in question was a mutant, it was kind of… weird. Not bad-weird, but cheesy-old-cartoon-weird. Even just the fact that there really _were_ for mutant turtles wondering the streets of New York was a lot to take in, and it had been two days since she found out. Add to that _One of them might like you_ and you had a recipe for _What the actual hell is going on here?_

"Okay," Angel said, as steadily as possible. There wasn't really much else she could say. "And?"

"Tell me, Angel," Hun said, "do you have any special skills we could use?"

"I'm fast," she said immediately. "Fastest on the boys' soccer team. I can pick locks, too, and I ain't too shabby with a tonfa."

She knew that because Casey had let her try one out once.

Hun nodded approvingly. "You're uninitiated, aren't you?"

Angel nodded.

"You seem like a kid we could use," Hun said. "Those turtles are constantly getting in our way, and we need Purple Dragons who don't get taken down in the first two seconds of a fight. Interested?" He pulled out of his pocket an armband with a purple dragon on it.

"Wait, this is happening for real?" Angel clarified. Hun simply nodded and she reached across the table to take the armband.

"As of right now," Hun said, "consider yourself initiated."

The thing with the mirror and the commercial on TV was probably just a coincidence. But either way, if not for that mutant turtle she wouldn't be doing this right now, would she?

* * *

Splinter's story might have cheered Mikey up, but that didn't stop him from trying to fake a cold on Thursday. Unfortunately his family knew he was freaking out about soccer practise, so there was no getting out of it. Unless he lost a foot or something between the start of school and the end of the day, he had to go.

Needless to say, he ended up going.

It was hard to say whether it was more difficult knowing he had scared Angel, or knowing she had no idea it was him. It didn't sting as bad that she didn't recognise him as it would've done because he had scared her; so imagine how much more scared she woulda been if she'd recognised him! It was hard to get her terrified expression out of his mind.

If she'd just known it was him he could've reassured her that he wouldn't hurt her. Heck, if he'd just known she was with the Purple Dragons he would've given her a fair warning that he was a mutant!

Splinter had said something about making the best of the hand the universe had dealt him. But when his best friend, who (he finally admitted to himself) he had a _tiny_ crush on, was a Purple Dragon, what in the heck was there to be made the best of?

He almost considered blowing off soccer practise and going home, but the guys would've kicked his butt. And anyway, he would probably feel better if he saw her and she _wasn't_ scared of him, Leo had reasoned earlier.

Still, it was kind of embarrassing that he was a trained ninja but it still made him jump when Angel caught up to him on the way to the soccer field and said, "Hey."

"O-oh," Mikey said, trying to cover up the fact that she'd surprised him as smoothly as possible. "Hey Angel. How's it goin'?"

"Eh," Angel shrugged and pulled a face, "I could go either way. Sorry we didn't hang out at the weekend. Something big kinda happened. You don't wanna know."

"That's okay," Mikey said. "I had a… a rough night on Friday. I kind of needed the sleep."

Was it morally okay to lie to your best friend when you knew the truth would freak them out? Ugh. Stuff it. At least it wasn't a total lie. And she must have believed him, cos she was smiling, so –

"April's friend Irma invited me and my bros to a Halloween party," he blurted out so suddenly it even surprised _him_. "We're allowed to bring a guest. You wanna go with me? As friends, y'know," he added quietly, looking down in the hopes that his hair would fall in his face and hide his blush.

Oh God. Raph was right. He really _did_ like her.

This would be so much easier if Angel wasn't a Purple Dragon. Then again, Leo was totally dating Karai, and she was in the Foot clan, so…

Angel paused; blinked a couple of times. Then she smiled again. "Sure," she said.

"Sweet!" Mikey exclaimed. "Race you to the field!"

* * *

April was just getting ready to leave at the end of the newspaper club when she heard Vern ask, "So are the rumours true?"

Packing away her stuff, she raised an eyebrow at him and said, "What rumours?" with as much innocence as she could, although she bet she knew what they would be about.

"Apparently," Vern said, "you're dating one of the Hamato brothers. Danny or whatever his name is."

_Bingo_. She'd been right.

April kept her best pokerface and just hoped she wasn't blushing. "No," she said firmly, "_Donnie_ and I aren't dating."

"Somebody saw you holding hands with him at the weekend."

"It's none of your business anyway," April snapped.

Vern chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "You're probably right, O'Neil. But there's something weird about those boys. I'm just trying to look out for you, is all."

"Don't bother." April would give him this much: he was persistent. But it was weird to remember how she had felt about the Hamato brothers at the start of the year and realise people still _did_ consider them a mystery. She had grown so close to them, in such a short amount of time. "I'm going now, okay Vern? The meeting's over, and I have a friend waiting for me." _And training to get to,_ she added in her head.

"Who is it? Hamato?"

"Yes."

It wasn't April who had said that. Donnie always seemed to know when she needed his help. Then again, she had warned him to come get her if she didn't leave the room with the others. Vern's… _attempts_… had cooled down since Casey had 'talked' to him not long before the end of the last school year, but that didn't mean they made her any less uncomfortable.

April grabbed her bag, latched onto Donnie's hand as though it were a lifeline and left without another word to Vern.

Okay. She was beginning to see why people thought they were going out. But she decided not to say anything; for now, at least. They were meant to go meet up with Mikey after his soccer practise and collect some pizza for dinner.

Besides, April kind of _liked_ the feeling of holding Donnie's hand, but some of it was just a weird kind of curiosity. Because the guys had been mutated from turtles, they should have been cold-blooded; but because the other half of their DNA was human, there was some warm blood in there, too. It made them pleasantly luke-warm.

And damn if she didn't like that Donnie's hand heated up whenever she took it.

Mikey and Angel were just leaving the field when Donnie and April reached the playground. April dropped Donnie's hand with a fair deal of hidden reluctance and a small blush, knowing there would be hell to pay if either Mikey or Angel caught them holding hands.

When the group parted ways with Angel, she and Mikey shared a one-armed hug – April raised an eyebrow teasingly – and when he was sure she was out of earshot, Mikey beamed from ear to ear.

"Dudes! Angel totally agreed to go to Irma's party with me!" he whooped. Then he gave a small scream of happiness. "_Aah_, this is _awesome_!"

April and Donnie exchanged smiles. It was good to have Mikey back.

* * *

Leo's first official date with Karai was two weeks into the month, on a Friday. He took his wallet and collapsible swords out of his school bag, which Raph had been 'persuaded' (read as: 'bribed') into taking home, and shoved them into the pockets of his new jacket; Michelangelo's mutation day present to him. It was a nice jacket in a pleasant, deep shade of blue, and if Leo was honest, it had surprised him.

He had worn a blue dress-shirt to school today, having arranged to go straight to the fair from school so he could spend time with Karai and still see his brothers later. He was pleasantly surprised, when Karai had removed her jacket in Drama, to see that she was wearing a nicer shirt than usual, too. It was a black shirt (no surprises there) with grey and red patterns stitched up the arms.

His brothers and April wished him luck and went on their way, and Karai met up with him a few minutes later, her jacket removed and her school bag slung over one shoulder.

"Ready to go?" Leo asked.

"You bet," Karai said. "Lead the way, Fearless."

Leo's cheeks lit up and he reached for Karai's hand. She didn't seem to mind, letting him guide her to the park with the fair set up in it. And he understood now why April and Donnie had been holding hands a lot lately (even if they denied being a couple every time someone mentioned it). It was… _nice_.

To be honest, if you had approached Leo last year and told him he'd _ever_ find himself taking Oroku Karai on a date and holding her hand, he would probably have blushed and then asked whether you were being picked up at home or did you want a lift to the nearest insane asylum?

Not that, now it was actually happening, he would have changed anything about it. Well, he might have made it so that she wasn't the daughter of the enemy, if he was given the choice. But other than that, Leo decided, he was enjoying the date already.

Did it still count when it hadn't actually started yet?

The walk didn't actually take too long, but it was getting dark by the time they arrived. Lights were coming on in the stalls, a few people were already milling around and he could smell cotton candy and… perfume. He had been too excited for the date to notice it before, but Karai was wearing _perfume_.

Would it be appropriate to comment on it? Some sort of compliment seemed to be in order.

"You – uh – you look nice, by the way," he managed. Karai smirked and he felt something unexplainable happen in his chest area.

"You too," she said. "Now come on, I want to have a look around."

It was more of a carnival than a fair, really. Karai kept her composure well, but Leo could still sense a tiny surge of child-like fascination and excitement within her. She wanted to see everything there was before deciding what to do first. As they wondered the park, Leo tried to decide what he wanted to do most. He decided he would have liked to go on the Tunnel of Love ride, but that was probably a bit too forward; it was hard to tell with Karai.

* * *

It was incredibly unlike Karai to be thinking this, but… _wow_! Leo sure as hell knew how to pick a first date. And he was such a goddamn gentleman, too. It bugged her, but at the same time it was pretty endearing. And he cleaned up pretty nice, too. Karai almost felt underdressed.

She had tried to make an effort to look good today; she really had. Outside of important meetings and events she had to go to for Saki Enterprises with the Shredder, it was the only time she had truly made an effort with her looks. But at the same time, she couldn't make it too obvious. She'd dug up a nice shirt which still looked school-worthy, she'd switched to her best jeans and even smuggled some extras into school with her. At the end of the day she'd ducked into one of the girls' bathrooms and quickly applied the perfume she'd brought in, run a brush through her hair and touched up her makeup.

All Leo had to do to look like he was going on a date was put on a different shirt. That seemed kind of unbalanced to her.

It was probably just first-date-ever jitters, though. She was pretty sure Leo couldn't tell her mind was going a mile a minute with nerves, and it reassured her that he'd never actually been on a date before, either. She could tell because he was blushing the whole time they walked, and she liked the way it looked on him. She kind of wanted to kiss him again. Maybe she'd kiss him on the lips this –

"Don's been looking at that disk," Leo said suddenly. It kind of killed the mood, but hey, she'd been dying to ask about it.

"And?" she demanded eagerly.

Leo shook his head and Karai felt dread fill her gut. Great topic for a first date, Leonardo.

"He got past the security, but it turns out everything needs decoding." Leo paused. "Sorry. This was meant to be a date and I'm just worrying you."

_Jinx_. Karai snickered a bit. "Come on, Leo. Let's go do something date-y."

The blush returned. The effect she could have on Mr Fearless amused Karai to no end. The effect he was starting to have on her wasn't as amusing. Running into the bathroom to touch up her makeup and wanting to kiss guys? That wasn't her thing. Maybe it wouldn't be happening if Leo wasn't so damn attractive.

But in the long run, she couldn't blame it _all_ on him. _She_ had agreed to the date; _she_ had suggested the extended truce; _her_ damn rebellious teenager phase had kick-started everything.

When Leo reached for her hand again, Karai almost forgot to be annoyed at the changes she was undergoing. If she saw herself a year ago, the Karai from last year would probably call her foolish and tell her she was supposed to be loyal to the Shredder. But being loyal to the Shredder didn't include having… well, fun.

They went round a load of stalls and booths. She was an expert at the rifle-shooting and won him a prize (he jokingly thanked her in a falsetto voice and batted his eyelashes); he bought them both cotton candy which turned out to be nothing like what she was expecting but still pretty damn good. There were rides too, but Karai didn't feel too comfortable on the Ferris wheel because there was no escape exit like on the rooftops. Leo agreed with her, but it might just have been because he was Leo.

Around eight, Karai finally succumbed to the cold night air and shrugged her jacket on. Leo seemed cold too, and so they ended up walking huddled together, one of his arms around her shoulders and her arm around his waist, trying to keep as warm as they could. That was when Leo suggested a hot chocolate. Karai looked away and murmured something under her breath.

"What do you mean you've never had hot chocolate!?" Leo exclaimed in horror.

"Simple as," Karai shrugged. "It's not a Foot clan thing, before you get any ideas," she added quickly. "It's just one of those things that never really happened."

Leo stopped walking, causing Karai to halt as well. She felt the muscles in his arm twitch before he reluctantly let go of her and handed her their winnings from the various booths and stalls. "Hold onto those," he instructed, "and go find a bench. I'll be back in a minute."

Karai did as he said. There was a bench not too far off, set a little way back from the excitement of the fair-carnival-thing. She chose that one. From here, she still had a view of everything going on, but it was just far away enough that it wouldn't be a bother. She was relieved to sit down, to be honest. Everything felt quieter and darker because although the sound was still there, the light from the booths and rides didn't quite reach her. She felt like she was in her own protected little bubble.

Leo joined her not long after she'd sat down. In each hand he held a steaming Styrofoam cup. He sat down, handed one to her and teased, "Careful. There's a reason it's called _hot _chocolate."

Yeah, no kidding. Karai swore she burned her tongue… but boy was it worth it. It didn't take she and Leo long to stop shivering, and by the time they'd finished their hot chocolate, his free arm – the one closest to her – was draped over the back of the bench like he wanted to put it round her shoulders again. She kind of wanted him to. She turned to him but froze upon realising they were making eye contact. Why did he have to have such nice eyes? He held her gaze and she didn't want to look away.

Was something supposed to happen now? Probably.

A loud explosion made them both jump, and they turned at the same time to discover that somebody had set a firework off early. Leo and Karai glanced awkwardly at one another and began to laugh.

This was right. This was how it was supposed to be. Not fighting against one another. Not sitting in some uptown skyscraper, listening to the Shredder plot. Sitting in the park, laughing with someone she could consider a friend… and more. This was how Karai wanted her life to go.

Their laughter died down and they were staring at one another again. Karai was pretty sure she knew what was supposed to happen now. Her gaze wondered to his lips. To be honest, since she had kissed Leo on the cheek on his mutation day, she had been curious about what it would be like while he was human. His turtle skin was smooth and sort-of warm, but human skin was soft and a lot warmer, and Karai wanted to know if that rule held true for Leo. Now was as good a time as any to find out.

That was when she realised she was leaning in. Leo had his eyes almost closed and was doing the same.

"_You look so pretty,_" Leo said in Japanese. He sounded slightly breathless. "_Did I tell you that?_"

"_Just shut up and kiss me,_" Karai responded, feeling equally breathless.

Karai was not the most poetic person; so needless to say, describing that first kiss would not have been her forte. All she needed to know was that there were _definitely_ sparks. Leo's skin was a lot softer in his human form than his turtle form, and she almost felt like she should be gentle with him. And apparently that did something for her, because the next thing she knew, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and his arms were around her in return, one hand at her waist and the other – the one which had, until recently, been on the bench – creeping up her back so he could run his fingers into her hair.

* * *

Leo stumbled in the door an hour later with an oversized teddy-bear under his arm and a goofy grin on his face. Apparently the date had gone well. Raph wasn't a fan of Karai, but he was pleased for his brother.

He was pretty damn proud of himself, too. He had invited Joy to Irma's Halloween party during the after-dinner dojo session and she had agreed.

"Dude," Mikey exclaimed, dragging Leo over to the couch. "Details. _Now_."

Even Donnie looked interested. He should be; Leo was the first of them all to go on a genuine date. And Raph had to admit, he kind of wanted to know, too. He, Mikey and Donnie grilled Leo for exact details on what had happened. They asked questions, listened to the answers, teased him and listened again.

Oh yeah. He'd definitely had a good time. And it didn't seem like any of them would be going stag for the Halloween party, either.

* * *

Halloween approached fast after that. Mikey refused to let his bros leave their costumes to the last minute. Ordinarily they could've gone as themselves but he was still kind of paranoid about freaking Angel out. They hadn't seen her on patrol since that one time at the start of the month.

Splinter, apparently, found it extremely amusing to watch Mikey panic over everyone's costumes while the others took a far more laid-back approach. Mikey had always been the creative one; and as such he had to make his own costume, apparently.

He opted for a self-designed superhero costume. All those comic-books he read were starting to get to him, Raph teased. Mikey named his superhero the Turtle Titan and persuaded April to help him put the costume together. It consisted of a catsuit like superheroes always wore (green, of course, and he only needed it in his human form) with a great big orange letter 'T' on the front and an orange turtleneck (he thought that was hilarious; the others didn't get it). To add to the rest of it he had his nunchuck belt, elbow and knee pads, orange wrist bands, a long, red, hooded cape, and a shield on his right arm, the design of which was like a turtle shell. Oh, and a brown pair of those pirate-style boots.

Personally, Mikey thought his costume was amazing. The others disagreed. Raph said it made him look kinda like a dork. Leo pretended to be insulted when he heard that.

Mikey didn't care, though. He still thought he looked awesome, and that was the main thing. And heck, maybe Angel would see the costume and start putting two and two together, like April had done when she saw Donnie's turtle form.

Better: maybe she'd still like him when she did.

Of course, he and his bros had talked Donnie and April into doing a couples' costume. Think, Mikey reasoned, how adorable it would be! They were totally denying that they were together, but Mikey swore it wouldn't be long now. He kinda wished they could have been persuaded to wear Disney couple costumes, but instead they went as a couple of vampires.

Raph wasn't pleased because _he_ had planned to go as a vampire. He chose a zombie costume instead and stole Donnie's laptop so he could find some tutorials on cheap, good zombie costumes. He ruined an old jacket and they ran out of cornstarch, but he looked pretty cool.

Leo _had_ wanted to wear the Captain Ryan costume he was saving for Comic Con, but they came up with something better. Splinter had allowed them to watch a movie called _The Warriors_ (which, just for the record, was _amazing_) and he ended up with a costume inspired by the costumes of the characters, with his mask over his forehead like a bandana, one of the vests they wore in the movie, and a wooden necklace.

Splinter told them to have a good time and they met up with the others on the way. Joy was just arriving at their place – by car, not air, and wearing a long coat and a black wig – as the guys and April left the house. The car seated six people, so considering there would be seven passengers including the driver once they picked Karai up, that wouldn't be _too_ bad. Angel had said she would be late and would meet them there.

"Someone's gonna have to double up, by the way," Joy said as Raph climbed into the front passenger seat and the others piled into the back. There was a small debate over who should double up, in which Mikey individually threatened to sit on the lap of everyone but Joy and earned several smacks to the back of the head, before it was decided that as Leo and Karai were the closest thing to an official couple, it would be them. Leo blushed and did not stop until they arrived at the place where Karai said she would meet them.

Karai seemed to have gone as Catwoman, as she was wearing her catsuit but not her armour. It was probably the best costume, to be fair, to look kind of dressed up but not tip the Shredder off to the fact that she was going to a Halloween party. She smirked when informed that she would be doubling up with Leo and climbed into the car and onto his lap. And somehow, the whole situation felt simultaneously better and more uncomfortable to him than it should have done.

But that was nothing compared to Raph's reaction when he saw Joy's costume. April directed them to Irma's place and as they left the car, Joy shrugged off her coat to reveal a long black dress with an extremely low-dipping neckline and long sleeves. She had gone as Morticia Addams.

And Raph's costume suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. He did his best to ignore it.

* * *

April felt bad for Mikey when she realised they were all walking up to Irma's apartment in pairs and Angel hadn't arrived yet. She linked arms with Donnie and Mikey and led the way. Irma, who wore an attractive witch costume, was overly excited about the fact that _the Hamato brothers were actually _right there_ in her apartment_. Again, April got that feeling that it was strange to think she was becoming part of the mystery surrounding the brothers.

Sending off the others to have a go at the party games, she hung back with Irma as it suddenly hit her that _holy crap, she was best friends with the Hamato brothers and she hadn't even noticed, as if it wasn't even a big deal_.

"You alright?" Irma asked.

"Fine," April answered as the sensation disappeared. "Are you?"

"I just can't believe they're actually right here in my apartment," Irma fangirled quietly. "And the blonde brother –"

"Mikey," April corrected immediately.

"Right," Irma said. "_Mikey_ is kinda cute. I thought you said they all had dates?"

"They do," April replied. "Mikey's date just… isn't here yet."

"Are they going out?"

April was about to answer _no_, but decided against it. Poor Mikey wouldn't get a moment of peace. "It's kind of a complicated situation," she decided on.

"In what way?"

"Long story," April said, in a tone which closed that branch of the conversation.

* * *

Angel turned up about half an hour later and Mikey _bolted_ downstairs to meet her when she was buzzed into the building. She wore a striped sweater and dark jeans, with a black beanie hat and her pigtails tied near the base of her skull. Just a quickly-thrown-together burglar costume, sure, but still pretty cool.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands onto her shoulders. She smirked at him.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?"

Mikey struck the best superhero pose he could. "I'm the Turtle Titan!" he said dramatically.

Angel tensed for a second, then relaxed. He had expected this, after April had told him about the thing with the mirror earlier in the month. Hopefully she just thought it was all a coincidence.

"So where's the party at?" Angel asked, hurrying to change the subject.

"Upstairs," Mikey said. "Come on!"

He grabbed her wrist and began bounding up the stairs two at a time. He was the fastest of all his bros – and they were pretty fast – but they woulda been impressed with how well Angel kept up with him.

"Come on," he said again when they got back to the apartment, "try out some of these games with me!"

* * *

"You doing okay?" Leo asked as he joined Karai on the couch. She shrugged and settled herself against him.

"I'm fine," she sighed, shrugging. "It's a nice change from all those formal events I have to go to for Saki Enterprises. I'm just enjoying getting to sit down."

"I didn't think parties would be your thing," Leo said honestly.

"I didn't either," Karai said, "but maybe I'll join in later. A ginger vampire told me we'd get to watch horror movies later tonight."

Leo nodded. It was good to see April and Karai had made efforts to get along, considering they didn't really know each other, even if that effort _was_ just mentioning that there would be horror movies later.

"And the company's good," Karai added, turning to kiss him.

Leo kissed her back and said, "I'm sure Irma wouldn't mind if we find a horror on the TV."

"Or that could be our next date," Karai suggested. "We could find something on at the movies."

_"_Asking the son of the enemy on a date," Leo mocked, trying to hide his blush. "How could you, Karai? What would our fathers say?"

Karai smirked. "_Your_ father wouldn't mind. _My_ father… doesn't need to know."

She kissed him on the cheek and leaned against him again. Leo wrapped his arm around her and picked up the remote to search for something to watch on TV.

* * *

Raph pulled a face. He still wasn't totally comfortable with Karai; but then again, Leo was the only one who had really spent any time around her. They'd all have to interact with her sooner or later, considering this truce was definitely ongoing as far as anyone could tell.

"If they start making out," Joy said, making Raph's attention jump back to her, "I'm out of here."

Raph chuckled. "They wouldn't dare. Too many people around who could blackmail 'em."

"I like the way you think, Raphael," Joy said, smirking. Raph grinned and hoped his green face-paint hid the slight blush that was creeping onto his face. "All my human friends are such high school stereotypes," she added in a voice that was affectionate but slightly irritated. "Figures you guys'd meet all the cool ones."

"Turtle luck, I guess," Raph shrugged proudly. "Every once in a while, it pulls through for us."

"I can tell. Sucks about the whole thing with Angel, though," Joy added in a low tone.

Raph nodded. "Nothing we can do about it, for now. We'll figure something out."

Joy let out a small chuckled of her own and said, "I bet you will, tough guy."

Damn. A guy could get used to nicknames like that. Especially when they were given by a pretty girl like Joy. She probably had a boyfriend, Raph realised suddenly. She'd never really mentioned one, but there were some things you didn't talk about with friends of the opposite sex.

But so long as they were friends, that was good enough for now.

* * *

April didn't mind joining in, but she was content to just watch how the party played out. Mikey had tried out all the party games, mostly with Angel's help. He had made everyone have a go with him but had given up on apple-bobbing pretty quick after Donnie figured out how to impale the apples with his plastic fangs. Raph and Joy mostly just kind of milled around together, chatting and not trying out much other than the food (unless they got too close to Mikey and were roped into a game), but at some point Irma had put on Halloween music, and April could see them dancing to it now. Leo and Karai, at this point, were on the couch watching a horror movie April recognised as _The Thing_; it must have started at nine. Leo's arm was around Karai's shoulders, her hand was holding onto his, and they just looked so _comfortable_ together.

April sighed. She _had_ to have a talk with Donatello. _Now_.

April and Donnie had stuck together all night, for the most part. There had been mixed interaction between the lot of them, and Irma had mingled quite a bit. She had been throwing April _go-get-him_ signs all night.

"Don?" April asked quietly. They leaned against the wall on opposite sides of the door, sometimes watching _The Thing_ and sometimes watching Mikey rope Angel back into his favourite party games. She made a mental note to tell Mikey at some point about the game Spin the Bottle just to see what his reaction would be, saw that Donnie had inclined his head to show he was listening, and said, "Are we… together or something?"

She heard Donnie's breath catch momentarily in his throat. Then he turned to her with the dorkiest, most adorable blush _ever_ on his face and stammered, "W-what makes you say that?"

April shrugged. "Everyone thinks we are. Mikey got us to come to this party in a couples' costume. We hold hands pretty much all the time."

Donnie nodded, then seemed to panic. "We don't have to, uh, if you don't want. I mean, you can probably tell how I…" he trailed off, stopped and tried again. "But it's, um, up to you. We could just be really close friends or –"

"I wouldn't mind," April said suddenly. "I mean, I… yeah…" she trailed off too, her cheeks red for God-knew-what-reason.

"R-really?" Donnie asked, stunned and blinking in surprise.

_Goddammit, Donnie, just freaking kiss me or something,_ April thought. "I –"

They were interrupted by a mumbled swear and Angel charging out of the apartment. They turned to Mikey who, instead of upset like they thought he'd be, was frowning like he thought something bad was going to happen. April huffed, slightly annoyed, and asked what was wrong.

Mikey shrugged. "She got a text, swore and left."

"Purple Dragons?" Donnie asked quietly.

Mikey nodded. "I bet. Should we –"

"What happened to your date?" Irma suddenly asked, appearing out of nowhere. April groaned and facepalmed.

"Oh," Mikey said. "Uh, she had to go. Family emergency, y'know?"

"That sucks," Irma said. "I can always be your date instead."

Mikey blushed. "Actually I think I – uh, I mean –"

"Their dad just texted them and said they have to go early," April invented. "I know it kind of sucks, but you know what parents are like."

"Yeah," Irma agreed. "I guess so. Is everybody leaving? It's only nine-thirty."

April knew the others would want to go after the Purple Dragons, and she may have begun her ninja training with Splinter, but she was nowhere near ready to start putting her kunoichi skills into practical use. "I'll stay with you, Irma," she volunteered. "We can have a Halloween sleepover." She shot Donnie and Mikey a meaningful look; they went to get Raph and Leo. The guys left, Karai and Joy following. April sighed and settled down on the couch with Irma and the remains of the pizza.

_Stay safe, guys. PLEASE._

* * *

When Mikey and Donnie explained what was going on, Leo said to Karai, "It would probably be better if you leave. If there's trouble and the Foot turns up –"

"– I don't want to get caught with you guys," Karai finished. "Got it." She left in a different direction to the way the others were going in.

"I'll stick around," Joy offered, tearing the bottom of her dress off so she could run down the stairs with the others. It turned out she was wearing her mutation-proof jumpsuit underneath.

Man, Leo thought, we could do with some of those.

Seeing no immediate trouble upon exiting the building, the group of five took to the rooftops. When they reached the roof, they transformed. The guys removed their weapons – collapsible in the case of Leo and Donnie, although Mikey and Raph didn't need specialised weapons because theirs were smaller – from a bag Leo had brought and began packing their costumes away. Joy removed a _beautiful_ rope dart from a concealed inner pocket in her dress.

"You should keep that necklace on," Mikey teased. "It totally suits you, bruh."

Leo gave the sure-thing-Mikey-okay sigh and removed the necklace, sliding his mask down over his eyes. They stashed the bag, now full of tattered and torn costume remains, away so they could come back and collect it later.

"Joy," Leo asked, "can you scan the area and see if you can spot any Purple Dragons? Angel will probably be with them."

Raph put a hand on Mikey's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Mikey offered a small smile of thanks. Joy nodded and took to the skies, using her enhanced vision to look out for Purple Dragons. She landed after a minute or two.

"Angel's heading North-west," she said. "There's a small group of Dragons a couple of blocks up that way. Some guy who looks kind of important, too."

"Lead the way," Leo said. "Let's get closer and see if we can hear what they're saying."

Joy's hearing was much better than theirs, so when they reached the rooftop above the group of Dragons, she moved closest to the edge to listen in.

"It's some kind of a test," Joy whispered. "One of them's annoyed Angel didn't have to have her initiation test to get in… the important-looking guy says it was Hun's decision, not theirs."

The others exchanged glances.

"The first guy wants to know why she's already being given her first test," Joy continued, "and the second guy's saying it's a test to earn her weapon."

"What the hell!?" shouted an outraged voice from the group of Dragons. The voice was followed by intense shushing.

"There's a lot of swears," Joy reported. She paused. "Wow. I… I don't actually think that's anatomically possible. I guess he's not happy that a fourteen-year-old girl's about to earn her weapon and he hasn't yet. The important guy says she caught Hun's eye. Something about being the only one conscious at the end of a fight with the Turtles."

She smirked at them and Mikey looked away awkwardly.

"Okay, here comes Angel. The important guy's telling her– oh, here we go. They're going to cause trouble so you guys turn up and then if she stays conscious through the whole thing she gets her weapon."

"What do we do?" Donnie asked.

"Do we have a choice?" Leo whispered. "We can't let them steal or break anything, and Mikey will kill us if we hurt Angel."

Mikey blushed and gave his best impression of the Suspicious Fry meme.

"They're on the move," Joy said. "Do we follow?"

"Go," Leo said. "We'll be right behind you."

Joy flew above the rooftops, following the Purple Dragons as they moved. The guys followed her and tried to strategise.

"We could subtly stop them," Raph suggested. "Make it difficult for them to cause trouble, but without giving ourselves away."

"Could we do that, Donnie?" Leo asked.

"It depends what they do. But it shouldn't be too –"

Joy landed in front of them and said, "You said Casey Jones is a vigilante who's got it in for the Purple Dragons, right?"

"And mutants," Raph growled. "Right. Why?"

"The Dragons have decided which shop to wreck," Joy announced, "and Jones is heading straight for them."

Suddenly Mikey wasn't there anymore.

* * *

Angel cracked her knuckles and limbered up, preparing herself for the fight she was facing. She had pulled the Purple Dragon armband out of her pocket and slid it on over her sleeve on the way out of the party and her only regret was that she'd had to leave so fast. She'd been having fun… even with Mikey dragging her all over the apartment and making her try out all the games. Not that she minded too much, but still –

"What's with the getup, anyway?" some bozo who seemed to resent her for some reason, and looked like the crowning achievement of his life was getting initiated as a Purple Dragon, asked.

"I was at a Halloween party."

"A Halloween party?" the guy asked, beginning to laugh at her.

"Yes," Angel said smoothly, "it's something you get invited to when you have friends."

The guy looked like he wanted to smack her but another guy, the highest-ranking Purple Dragon in the group, shushed them. "Hear that?" he said.

She listened and heard it, too.

Footsteps were approaching from the alley. Familiar footsteps. Angel frowned.

"Is it those turtles?" the guy she'd been arguing with asked.

"No," Angel said thoughtfully. "It sounds like –"

"_Goongala!_"

Yep. There was Casey Jones' battle cry. Angel turned and saw him standing in the alley with his skull-painted hockey mask over his face and his hockey gear on. Huh. So he was the other vigilante?

She was annoyed he hadn't told her, but she couldn't say she was totally surprised. He'd had something against the Purple Dragons ever since he found out how his dad had –

"Well, well," said a voice from someone closer than Casey. Angel spun around and saw that the turtle mutants – as well as a bird mutant – were behind them. The one with the red mask was talking and he finished with, "what do we have here?"

"Hey!" Jones shouted. "Back off, freak! These goons are _mine_!"

Angel was pretty sure this was _not_ what girls meant when they gushed about the idea of having two guys argue over them.

That was when the Purple Dragon who had explained the test gave the order to attack. The other Dragons threw themselves at Casey and the mutants and got in a good few hits, but Angel was pretty sure they'd end up in the hospital within minutes. She hung back and mentally prepared herself for when the fight came to her.

Suddenly Casey broke free of the Dragons attacking him. He didn't seem to recognise her; he came at her with an angry scream and one of his hockey sticks raised. If she dodged out the way at just the right time she might be able to –

But then one of the turtle mutants jumped in front of her and caught the stick with the chain of his nunchucks just as Casey was bringing it down. Casey was distracted by fighting the Dragons he'd gotten away from and the turtle mutant went to fight a different Purple Dragon instead of her. Wasn't that the one who had nearly stopped her a couple of weeks ago?

Then Casey was coming for her again, and the same turtle mutant pushed the guy he was fighting in the way. The guy crashed into Casey and they both went down. The Dragon ended up unconscious and Casey was stuck under his weight.

So either the turtle mutant knew who Angel was and who Casey was and didn't want Casey to hurt her, or Hun was right and the mutant _did_ like her. Either way, he seemed not to want her to get hurt.

Oh God. This felt like more to take in than even just when Hun had told her.

And the fight, in the end, never reached her. One of the turtle mutants – whoever he was, he wore a red mask – got Casey to chase him, and when all the Dragons but Angel and the guy who'd set her the test were out of commission (and this guy himself looked pretty out of it) the mutants left.

And Angel was presented with a tonfa.


	14. Bonding… Apparently

**A/N: I'm not the only one thinking "we can't be on chapter fourteen already", right guys? I know it's a lot shorter than the last one, but to be fair, chapter thirteen nearly killed me**

**Cross between the '87 and 2k3 designs for Shredder here. Also, Wingman Shredder because why not. And a bit of Mikey-April bonding because that hasn't actually happened yet in this story. There was originally going to be a bit of Jealous Leo in here but I was tired and wanted to post this on time, sorry guys. I'm trying to make it a bit more light-hearted like the first couple of chapters for a bit**

**The potatoe one: I agree, Angel's getting far too caught up in this. Thanks for the permission to use your ideas! I was thinking someone should get him a **_**Space Heroes**_** box-set  
****Thor-Born: Yeah, I'm gonna try and NOT do a whole month in one chapter again. Yes, I thought I'd surprise everyone with Bebop and Rocksteady; those two are really fun. Thanks, I loved the thing with the mirror in the book I read and I kind of couldn't resist adding it… that'll either go into a one-shot or a flashback. Haha, yeah, the Turtles are in fact teenage girls… and that Turtle Titan costume will be returning, just for the record. I wish I could've put more action in here but I need to practice writing it. And Joy's costume was Morticia, from **_**The Addams Family  
**_**Memmek10k: Thanks!  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much!**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Bonding… Apparently**

_Close to you  
__I wanna get close to you and  
__I need more time  
_~ _Scope_ by Bowling for Soup

Staring up at Chris Plymouth's undercarriage and breathing a sigh of relief that there wasn't too much work left to do, Casey exclaimed, "I'm telling you man, it was insane!"

Raph shook his head. Being under the car, Casey couldn't see it; he just _knew_ Raph was shaking his head.

"There's no such thing as mutants." Raph's voice was tight, like he was lying about something, but Casey couldn't tell what and chose to ignore it for now. He desperately wanted to get finished on this car and the extra help was severely needed, as well as appreciated. It would do him no good whatsoever to get in a fight with his assistant. That could happen later, during Numbskull Training.

"You weren't there," Casey insisted. He was trying to tell Raph what had happened during his run last night. Purple Dragons and mutants! Although he hadn't mentioned the Purple Dragons by name – just called them a street gang – and he hadn't mentioned what kinds of animals the mutants were… mostly because Raph kept insisting it was bull. "I still think you should go on a night run with me, man. Just one! We could track 'em down and –"

"I'm not a vigilante, Case. That's _your_ thing."

Casey sighed inwardly. Personally, he thought Raph had the potential to make a great vigilante, but there was just no persuading the guy: he wasn't interested, so he was going to be stubborn; in a way, it was almost like talking to Angel. But there was something else in the way Raph got all closed-off around the subject that made Casey wonder if something else was going on with Raph; some big secret he wasn't telling. Sure, Casey wouldn't describe himself as particularly bright when it came to anything outside of mechanics, but he knew when something was up with people, and something was _definitely_ up with Raph.

Why else would he get all uptight about this shit?

"Who put the stick up _your_ ass?" Casey grumbled. Raph gave him a sharp kick to the leg which almost made him fall of the board he lay on to work on Chris's undercarriage. And it _definitely_ hit a bruise he'd earned the previous night when one of the mutants threw a Purple Dragon at him. What was up with that, anyway? He'd gone for one of the Purple Dragons twice, and both times the same mutant had saved that one Dragon, but the mutants had been _fighting_ the Purple Dragons. So why save one?

Raph's next comment – "One of those Purple Dragons is gonna cave your head in one day." – broke through his confused thoughts and he wheeled himself out from under the car. That was… interesting.

"I never said anything about any Purple Dragons," he pointed out, accepting the offer of Raph's hand and pulling himself to his feet. "I just said they were a gang."

"Well it was pretty obvious," Raph said smoothly. He was pulling a pokerface and Casey couldn't tell if he was lying or not. "It's always them in the news. They're out causing trouble every night."

"Whatever," Casey shrugged. "Undercarriage looks to be done. How's the rest?"

Raph wiped some oil on his jeans and said, "Nearly finished, I think. I dunno; Donnie knows more about cars than I do. I specialise in motorcycles."

Casey inspected Raph's work and gave a low whistle. "No, you're right, it's almost done. Man, I'm gonna miss working on this car when she's finished. Wanna go get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Sounds good," Raph said. "So how much am I getting paid to listen to you whine about how much _fun_ it is playing Batman?"

"You're fired," Casey joked.

"Dammit."

They laughed and headed to the nearest convenience store. "How about we sell the car before we figure out how to split the cash?" Casey suggested.

"Sounds good to me. How's Angel doing, by the way? You haven't complained about her running off all the time yet."

Casey winced. "Uh…"

Raph wasn't the only one Casey suspected to have some kind of big secret. Angel normally acted a bit off – she was Angel, after all, and a teenager now to boot – but she'd been acting more off than normal lately. At the start of October she'd locked herself in her room and refused to talk to him, and now she was doing it _again__. _Casey's first thought should have been guy trouble – Angel had been hanging out with Raph's youngest brother, Mikey, a lot lately – but Angel wasn't the sort of girl to lock herself away and sulk over guys. Something was definitely going on with her, too, but he couldn't figure out what. Bullying, maybe? But she could stick up for herself, and she knew he'd stick up for her too if need be, so it couldn't be that. Things just weren't making sense.

Raph groaned as his phone rang and he answered it. "Yeah, Don? … You want to _what__? _… No, that's a terrible idea…" he huffed. "_Fine__. _I'll check. Goodbye." Then he rang off.

"The hell was that about?"

"Donnie's taking his driving test today. He wants to fix up something to drive around in when he passes."

"He's really that confident he's gonna pass?" Casey asked. Raph just shrugged.

"He's smart like that; he'll figure it out. It figures he wants a freaking van, too. Probably wants to put a load of gear and scientific stuff and weapons in it…"

He had said that last part under his breath and Casey didn't quite catch it. "What was that?"

Raph shook his head. "Never mind. I said I'd check the junkyard for something he could use. Food first, though."

It both startled and amazed Casey how, despite their differences and the fact that he ranted and raved and complained about them _frequently_, Raph and his brothers were incredibly close. It was weird and he got the vibe that those four brothers knew all each others' secrets and didn't care. He used to have that sort of sibling-slash-best-friend relationship with Angel, and honestly he kind of missed it. Maybe Raph would know what to do.

But for now, he was fairly satisfied just thinking about what he was going to grab for lunch.

* * *

Giving a sigh of frustration, Karai stepped into an elegant black spaghetti dress which just reached the tops of her knees and had silver accents. A pair of black stilettos lay on the ground at her feet and a jewellery box she hadn't even _looked _at since the start of summer vacation sat open on her dresser.

"I expect," Saki had told her earlier, when he informed her they would both be going to an important event for Saki Enterprises, "for you to be on your best behaviour."

"_Hai_," she had answered, and the (rather one-sided) conversation had ended there.

Dating a guy her father didn't like, much less approve of, and being told not to be an embarrassment at important public events? Oh yeah. Karai was _loving_ this whole teenager thing.

It felt kind of weird, though, to prepare to go to public events for Saki Enterprises again. It was probably, she decided, because it had been a while and she honestly didn't think her old look and her new one would go well together.

She was wrong.

Gathering a pair of silver hooped earrings, Karai caught a glimpse of herself in her full-length mirror. The clothes and jewellery went well with her new hairstyle after all; she looked formal and teenager-y and cool, all at the same time. She smiled to herself and picked up a thin silver necklace. It was the last thing her true parents had given her.

Karai could not remember her parents very well, nor could she remember why they left her, but she remembered how. They had been dressed in rags, she thought, or tattered clothes. At least, their clothes were torn and dirty and they had dirt on their faces. Her mother had told her to stay where she was and that they would be back for her by nightfall, put the necklace over her and told her to take care of it; that it would protect her. Her parents did not come back, and a day or two later Saki had found her starving and weak and homeless, and had taken her in.

She wished she could remember her parents better.

Karai sighed and shook her head. No good to dwell on the past. Instead she grabbed up her phone, snapped a photo of herself and sent it to Leo. She packed a few belongings into her silvery-black clutch purse before turning to her sword and holding it against her dress to measure whether she could conceal it under the dress. This was a long-standing tradition for her: in her opinion, weapons were vital to a ninja, and so it was imperative that she had at least one weapon hidden either on her person, or very nearby, at all times.

Displeased to realise the dress was too short to conceal her sword, Karai threw her favourite weapon onto her bed and concealed a tanto or two in her clutch purse. She was about to pack her phone away, too, when she received a reply from Leo telling her in the cheesiest words possible now pretty she looked, and a second reply which made her laugh.

**From Leo:  
**_Sorry. Mikey's idea. Apparently I look pretty, too._

That was the caption that came with the recreation of the picture Karai had sent, done in his human form so the material didn't rip over his shell. Leo had turned a pair of shorts into a dress by using one leg as the main body and stretching the other over his shoulder like a sleeve. A set of mismatched keyrings, held on with a pair of elastic bands, stood in place of the earrings, and he had somehow pulled his hair into a similar style to hers.

Relationships, especially romantic ones, had never been high priority for Karai. Even when deciding to get involved with Leonardo, she hadn't been aiming for a boyfriend but friends to have fun with. Now she had both, and trading either was totally out of the question. She had even had a friendly conversation with April O'Neil at the Halloween party last night. She would just have to hope Saki would not force her to choose between the Foot clan and the Turtles. Yes, she was supposed to be loyal to the Shredder, but she did not want to think on how she would react if he ordered her to hurt Leonardo or his family.

She was extremely displeased to find that Saki had allowed Chaplin to join them, but apparently he was the young prodigy of Saki Enterprises. Saki was probably just showing off his two favourites. It was still a pity he had invited Chaplin. Thinking of her true parents had made Karai miss seeing Saki in Father Mode. They had never done particularly father-daughterly things before, but he had raised her as his daughter and held at least some fatherly affection for her.

Chaplin was at Karai's side from the moment they left the limo which took them to the event, and she was not amused. It wasn't that he was particularly bad-looking; it was just that she found him unexplainably irritating.

_Just don't leave me alone with him,__ Karai thought, __and I'll be fine._

No such luck.

Saki had removed his mask and helmet to reveal handsome Japanese features and neat, dark hair, cut short and slicked back. His cape and gauntlets had been traded for a dark suit and he looked the very image of an important businessman. He of course began mingling with politicians as soon as they got there, leaving Karai to follow him like the good daughter she was pretending to be and Chaplin to follow her like he thought they were on a date.

"Is this your boyfriend?" one politician asked Karai, who was trying to subtly keep Chaplin at a reasonable distance.

"No," she said, a little more harshly than she intended, "he is not."

"Chaplin here is among the newest employees at Saki Enterprises," Saki explained, allowing Chaplin to shake hands with the politician, "and a valuable asset to the company."

_Yeah, right,_ Karai thought, trying not to let on that she was brooding. It had to be a conspiracy of some sort: Chaplin kept offering his arm to her and her rejections gradually became harsher and harsher, and usually Saki would have torn Chaplin a new one – or even had a few _very _strong words to say to him – for making Karai uncomfortable. Now, though… he seemed to be ignoring it.

So she reminded herself that neither of them had any idea about her relationship with Leonardo and gave Chaplin a glare which told him to back the hell off and, eventually, he gave up and shoved his hands into his pockets, sulking.

After a while, Karai decided she was fed up of all of it and needed some time alone, in which maybe she'd text Leo. She complained that her shoes were hurting her feet and went to find a table to sit at. Unfortunately, Chaplin followed her like a lovesick puppy and sat beside her, so she couldn't text anyone under the table.

"Now what?" she demanded five long, slow minutes later, fed up of Chaplin staring at her.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "I just think you look really nice."

"Thanks," she spat.

"Not that you don't look nice every day."

"You can stop now."

"Oh – okay." Chaplin shut up for a while and Karai tried thinking of the photo Leo had sent her. That cheered her up and calmed her down.

She sipped on a glass of water and sat trying to recall what movies she might have seen advertised that Leo might like to go see on their second date. He'd probably suggest a corny romance comedy, but she'd rather see something with some action in it. He probably would, too, but it was Leo, and Leo could be kind of a cornball. Hadn't she traded numbers with O'Neil yesterday as a just-in-case-of-emergency deal? O'Neil would probably have an idea she could use.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Chaplin piped up, causing Karai to groan inwardly, "whether you'd like to go for coffee with me some time."

Karai tensed and injected as much hostility as she could into her voice as she said: "No. Thank you."

"Are you sure?" Chaplin insisted. "It doesn't have to be coffee. We could –"

"_No_," Karai said harshly.

Oh God; it _was_ a conspiracy! She should have expected this. Was _this_ what they were planning? She knew Saki approved of Chaplin, but he was not trying to set her up with him. No. Freaking _no_. No _way_.

Chaplin sighed dejectedly. "Alright, well… I'll go get a drink or something."

He got up and left, and shortly after, Saki joined Karai at the table.

"You still seem distracted," he commented. "Is there a problem?"

_Chaplin is a nuisance,_ Karai thought bitterly, _and I can't _believe _you're enabling him._

"Huh," she said, as though she hadn't noticed. "You're right; I suppose I _am_ a little distracted. I am having to carry half of my group in my drama elective because I have been put with the Unworkables, and the other –" she hesitated – "the other is Hamato Leonardo."

There was a pause. "You did not tell me this before," Saki commented slowly.

"It has been of little consequence," Karai half-lied. She couldn't say for certain what would have happened if she had not decided to be an actual teenager, but she severely doubted they would have ended up dating within the first month or two. Most likely she would have just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

"I see," Saki said, as though he did not entirely believe her but, at the same time, did.

"Our performances are due to be given on the last day before the Christmas holidays begin," Karai said. "We are allowed to invite our families to watch."

"I will do my best to make it," Saki told her. Karai nodded and decided the conversation was over. She went into the bathroom and sent a text to April O'Neil, asking what kind of movie she thought Leo might like to go see. Saki was acting like something big was going to happen, and she needed to take her mind off it.

* * *

April was finally released from Irma's Halloween sleepover, although there had been very little sleep involved and an awful lot of horror movies, Halloween games, and talking about boys. It was just past noon when she got back to her place. She showered, changed and decided to visit the guys. If she got too tired they probably wouldn't mind her dozing off on the couch… although apparently if anyone planned to sleep too soundly it was wise to hide all Mikey's pens first. From what she'd heard, all three of his brothers had woken up at some point with writing and moustaches drawn all over their faces.

She got to the guys' place around half-one, flopped onto the couch beside Mikey (who had a Stephen King movie on the TV as background noise) and said, "Shoot me, please."

"Didn't enjoy your sleepover?" Mikey teased.

"The movies weren't too bad," April shrugged, "but Irma nearly killed me for not figuring out whether or not me and Donnie are together yet." She almost mentioned that Irma had asked after Mikey, but decided he was already having enough girl trouble as it was.

"Well, if you want to try again, you'll have to wait a while," Mikey shrugged. "Donnie's out taking his driving test."

A small amount of panic set in and April slapped her forehead. "That's _today_? Geez, when did _November_ happen?"

Mikey laughed. "That's okay, you can always keep _me_ company. Raph's hanging out with Casey and Leo and Splinter are meditating."

April smiled. "Sure. Whatcha doing?"

Mikey was in his turtle form, but his hands were humanoid now. He had practised partial transformations the most, apart from Donnie. Mikey had perfected it when he was working on his Turtle Titan costume, because human hands were better for handling a needle but – his words – if you have turtle skin it hurts less when you accidentally stab yourself. To most people, just the concept of a giant, talking turtle was extremely weird. When that started to feel normal, the weird bit was when they had humanesque hands.

"I'm catching up on last night's classic horror reruns. Oh, and makin' an armband," Mikey answered. "You know how everyone else has their own symbol, like the Foot and the Purple Dragons?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I'm totally makin' one for us, too! Whatcha think?"

He held up what he was working on to her, revealing a white armband onto which he was sewing the green design of a turtle shell. April blinked, torn between feeling impressed, amused and just a little surprised. Amusement and feeling impressed were winning.

"I think it looks awesome," she said. Mikey beamed with pride.

"I think Donnie's glad he has his test today," he said, going back to his sewing. "All that decoding was really buggin' him. He doesn't know when to take a break sometimes."

"I know," April agreed. "Has he always been this way? Working himself half to death on projects?"

"Sometimes," Mikey shrugged. "I think he likes bein' kept busy. The guy's got a big brain and he probably gets bored with normal stuff. He used to be worse sometimes."

"Do I even want to ask?" April joked.

"Probably not," Mikey shrugged. "Hey, do you think if I told her who we are, Angel would want one of these?" He indicated the armband.

April could honestly say she had no idea: even just the suggestion of Mikey revealing his secret to Angel concerned her, because she didn't know how Angel would take it. "When did you decide to tell her?" she asked.

Mikey explained about the fight with the Purple Dragons and Casey Jones.

"I was wondering when you guys'd cross paths with that bonehead while you were on patrol," April groaned, rolling her eyes.

Mikey smirked and went on to explain how he had jumped in Casey's way twice. "Casey didn't recognise Angel," he said solemnly. "He tried to _hurt_ her, Ape. And if I keep protectin' her from him, she's gonna find out eventually. I just think it'd be better if _I_ told her, y'know?"

"I think that's a great idea," April smiled. She knew Mikey had moments where he came off as kinda stupid, but he was actually just a goofball, and it embarrassed her that she sometimes forgot he could be pretty insightful and observant sometimes. He probably deserved more credit than he got… but not all in a good way. Klunk came downstairs at this point and hopped onto her lap.

"So how'm I supposed to tell her?" Mikey asked.

"That's down to you," April shrugged, petting Klunk.

"Help me think of something?" Mikey begged, turning his biggest, bluest pleading eyes on her.

April sighed and caved. "Alright."

* * *

Donatello got in around three. He looked tired – Mikey said he hadn't slept well last night because he was stressing over decoding the files on that disk – and a little relieved.

"How'd it go, dude?" Mikey asked. He was working on another armband.

"Passed first time," Donnie said, shrugging like it was nothing.

April jumped up (Klunk wasn't particularly impressed at being turfed off her lap) and threw her arms around his neck.

"I knew you could do it!" she exclaimed – then she kissed him on the cheek. Donnie turned red and nearly fainted.


	15. Double Agent

**A/N: this is going awesome, guys! Chapter fifteen! Also, this is now the story of mine with the most reviews… only 85 but hey, I'll take it. As far as I know I've made up the word 'goono' (or 'goonos') myself; it's pronounced goon-oh, in case you weren't sure. I have Apritello moments planned to happen soon, but this chapter needed to happen first**

**Also, fight scene at the end here, and I couldn't figure out how to end the chapter so I just kind of left it there. And finally we get the scene where Angel finds out! This was moved around and changed a bit because Mikey has a line which made the decision for me that this would be a semi-human AU, so I wanted to do it justice. Yep**

**Bookwork: Woah. That's… definitely a new one  
****Thor-Born: Yeah, I think it's just one of those days where everybody's having a Moment. I did actually have a scene where Karai justifies telling Shredder, but it got deleted. Let's go with feeling sorry for Chaplin because he's pathetic and kind of desperate, considering he seems to be using his job to try and get to Karai  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much!  
****WhiteShoeQueen: Thank you  
****The potatoe one: Personally I find the idea of Wingman Shredder funny too. I think in the 2k3 Chaplin annoyed Karai a bit as well, just not as much as in this story. Just you wait for the Shellraiser to turn up; I'm way too excited for the scenes where they're building it! I think I have an idea for how Casey finds out but Raph accidentally implying they know each other would be hilarious… I might do both**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Double Agent**

_I've seen you on the screen  
It's you that I adore  
Since I was a boy  
I wanted to be like Roger Moore  
_~ _I Wish I was James Bond_ by Scouting for Girls

It almost astounded April how, whenever it is needed most, the brain always manages to frustrate people by shutting down the part which comes up with useful suggestions. Apparently this was a prominent problem with Raph.

"We could always just kidnap her and –"

"We aren't kidnapping anyone, Raph," Leo said wearily.

"But if we did, she'd have to –"

Leo lowered his voice and hissed, "We're trying _not_ to scare her, or make her hate us. Tell me _you_ wouldn't be mad or scared if you were kidnapped by a bunch of crazy people claiming they could turn themselves into turtles. In fact, tell me you want Mikey sulking again if any of this goes wrong!"

Raph held up his hands in mock-surrender. "Okay, okay. No kidnapping. Geez, I get it."

With a cross between a groan and a sigh of frustration, April pressed her forehead to the kitchen table and covered the back of her head with her hands. Hoping she would understand and quit the Purple Dragons, Mikey had suggested to the others his idea of telling Angel their secret. They were now supposed to be brainstorming ideas for how they could tell her without anything bad happening, but as it turned out, Raph was either the worst possible person to ask for help, was stupidly bored, or didn't want to be there and so had decided to suggest the worst idea possible.

And April _still_ hadn't figured out if she and Donnie were together yet. _Ugh_.

But, as Donnie placed a reassuring hand on her back and whispered that plan-making always went like this when Raph and Leo were involved, April decided there was no big rush to find out if she and Donnie were together. There was something so oddly pleasant about whatever kind of weird stage their relationship was at; the mutual crush that neither was doing anything about even though they both knew they probably should. April had no idea how aware Donnie was of her still-developing crush on him, but she doubted it would remain a secret for too long.

Back to more important matters, though. Like solving Mikey's problem. April lifted her head off the table and shot Donnie a grateful smile.

"Maybe you should just let it happen," Leo suggested. "Or you could get her to figure it out, like Donnie did with April."

April shook her head. "That's too risky," she reasoned. "Angel could take it the wrong way, or get angry. Just tell her outright, Mikey. Be honest and make sure she understands – and do it soon. Remember what Splinter said?"

They had gone to Splinter for advice on whether or not they should tell Angel because, between them there had been a perfect split of opinions. April was very slightly torn, but she and Mikey both approved his idea; Leo and Raph thought it was a bad idea (April had called Leo a hypocrite, seeing as how he was dating Karai); and Donnie thought it over and said the pros and cons balanced each other out and his opinion was neutral. He probably just didn't want to suffer the wrath of either side.

Splinter's answer to "Should we tell her?" had been that under normal circumstances he would have sided with Leo and Raph and agreed that telling their secret should only be done when absolutely necessary; however, as Angel was with the Purple Dragons (and April suspected, though he didn't say it, as Mikey liked Angel), it was imperative that they tell Angel before she got in too deep. Not wanting to worry the others – especially not Mikey – April didn't mention that she thought Angel already _was_ in too deep.

But, in layman's terms, Splinter's answer meant they had to tell Angel soon, while she didn't quite know what to make of the Turtles and had a relatively open mind about what side they were on. If they didn't tell her – if she got in too deep – and she found out… chances were, the results would _not _be pretty.

"I_ know_," Mikey said, frustrated, "but _how_? I'm not good at this sorta thing! I'm good at _naming__ stuff_!"

That was true. Mikey had a knack for naming things.

"You'll figure it out," April promised, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I guess," Mikey shrugged. Then he stood up. "I can't think on an empty stomach. Who wants pizza?"

* * *

Angel zipped up a pale hoodie which she hadn't torn the sleeves off – it was getting colder and while she didn't feel the cold as bad as others, she still needed to wrap up a bit – as she headed for the alley she had found Klunk in. It was something like two in the afternoon, but she had been hoping to sleep until dinner, because word had been passed down to her that she was being given another test tonight. She had no idea what it would be, so she was hoping the extra rest would give her the energy she might or might not need.

But Mikey had called about an hour ago and said they needed to meet up, then said to meet specifically in this alley. It had sounded urgent, so she had told him to give her an hour, rang off, had a shower, thrown on some clothes and headed out, grabbing some toast on the way.

He was around a corner from the part of the alley that could be seen down from the street, wearing a baggy orange basketball shirt and an expression which suggested that he was trying his very hardest to look serious. It was almost successful; unfortunately for him, he was kind of babyfaced, so it just came off as adorably dorky.

Not that Angel thought he was cute, or anything similar. God no; absolutely not… although a few people she knew would have been more than willing to tell her she was in denial right about now.

She shook her head, walked up to him and said, "Cold?"

"No," Mikey lied. He was shivering.

Raising an eyebrow, Angel said, "So what's so important you had to wake me up, tell me to meet you in a back-alley and then forget a sweater?"

Mikey examined his sneakers and shuffled from foot to foot for a moment. Angel waited somewhat patiently before he steeled himself, looked up and said, "Hear me out about this, okay? Try and keep an open mind."

Okay… that wasn't weird at all. Note the sarcasm.

"And please, please, _please_ don't get mad at me," he added, sounding like a kid telling a parent or friend they were about to do something they knew was stupid and could potentially get them in trouble.

"Fine, I won't," Angel said, folding her arms across her chest. "What is it?"

Mikey paused at this point, like he was trying to figure out how to say something. Either he was being overdramatic (not unlikely) when he stressed how important this was, or it was important and he hadn't thought it through very well… or at all.

"Alright," he said at last, "remember last week, when you left the Halloween party cos you had a test with the Purple Dragons?"

_That_ sure as hell got her attention. "How did you know about that?"

"I was kind of there."

Angel shook her head. "Not possible. I would've seen you!"

Mikey shrugged. "You probably did," he said, sounding apologetic. "You just didn't know it was me."

Angel paused; thought back to Halloween night. No… no, she definitely hadn't seen any blonde sixteen-year-old guys dressed up as a superhero turt–

Wait a second.

"What are you saying, Mikey?" she said it slowly; suspiciously. Mikey gulped.

"Y'know those mutant turtles?"

"Yes…?" Angel drew out the _E_ as her suspicion multiplied and her nerves grew, causing her pulse to quicken. He couldn't _possibly__ be _saying what she thought he –

"And y'know there was one who kept jumping between you and Casey?"

Okay. This was getting to be _beyond_ weird. "You're not saying –"

"It was me."

And then he gave her the same deer-in-the-headlights look she'd seen the turtle mutant wear when she first saw him. Like he'd been caught in the middle of doing something he shouldn't be and didn't know what was going to happen. She could see it now: Mikey and the turtle mutant had matching blue eyes; (almost) matching babyfaces; even matching _freckle patterns_.

Not that she'd been paying attention to the pattern of Mikey's freckles. Definitely not.

Holy crap. Mother of God, there was no way this could be happening. It shouldn't even be _possible_. She hadn't even really believed in the possibility of mutants actually _existing_ until she first saw them a month ago, but there was no _way_ Mikey could be one, right? And yet somehow, it kind of made sense. Everyone knew there was something strange about Mikey and his brothers, but _this_? She couldn't quite wrap her head around the idea.

Angel swayed a little on her feet. Mikey went to steady her and his expression changed from worry to hurt when she took a step back, lurching more than she meant to. A pinprick of guilt registered at the back of Angel's mind, but the expression vanished when she held up a hand and said, "Give me a minute."

Mikey backed off a little, watching her carefully, and Angel turned so her back was against a wall. She let her knees give out and slid down the wall, sinking into a sitting position with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Mikey sat similarly against the opposite wall, like he was still nervous, and asked if she was alright. Angel nodded.

"You're not messing with me, are you," she said. It was a statement, not a question. Mikey may be the king of pranks in his family, but he wouldn't mess with someone like that. He was a prankster, not a jerk.

Mikey shook his head. "Wouldn't do that to you. Or anyone else," he added hastily. Angel would've smirked if her head wasn't still swimming.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself and hopefully get some oxygen to her brain, Angel said, "So – what – you turn into a giant turtle?"

Mikey shook his head again. "Technically it's the other way round. Me and my bros turn into humans. April knows but Casey doesn't," he said.

Angel rested her forehead on her knees while she processed this. Mikey was the mutant turtle with the nunchucks. The one who had stopped Casey hitting her during the fight last week when he didn't recognise her. The one who Hun thought might _like_ her.

At least it all made sense now. How else would he have known where she went after she left the Halloween party? Relief coursed through her when her brain finally managed to understand it. Mikey was a mutant, but she hadn't known: that was why he had dropped his nunchucks when he saw her during that first fight with the Purple Dragons; why he had protected her during the last one. Why he had recognised her.

Mikey was slowly moving forward to see if she was okay. Her left had shot out and smacked him in the arm, causing him to jump back into his wall with an indignant yelp.

"You scared the _crap_ outta me, you big jerk! Do you realise how freaked out I was when I saw you like that and you –" she used a word that made Mikey wince – "_recognised_ me? I thought I was being stalked by giant turtles or something!"

Mikey hesitated for a second. Then, slowly, as though to make sure he'd heard her right, he said, "You mean you were just scared cos you didn't know it was me?"

Angel thought it over real quick and decided that was probably a good way to put it. If she'd known it was Mikey, she would've known why he recognised her and wouldn't have been feeling so paranoid. "Uh – yeah, I guess it's pretty much the same thing."

Without warning, Mikey dived across the small width of the alley and flung his arms around her. Angel wasn't exactly what you could call a fan of hugs, not even remotely, and the uncomfortable position she suddenly found herself in was _not_ helping. Not for the first time, the realisation that he wasn't actually _warm_ like a human should be, a thought which had only crossed her mind fleetingly, hit her; but now it made sense. The problem was that her side was pressed right up against Mikey's chest, and she had a high tolerance of the cold because she generated a lot of heat, all of which he seemed to be reflecting right back to her.

So not only was she _very_ uncomfortable – stuck on the ground in an alley with her back to a wall and her arms trapped against her sides and one being squashed between her body and Mikey's – but she was also starting to overheat.

Angel tried to squirm, tried to push him away, but Mikey had a grip like a vice. If he kept this up, she was going to start losing air.

"Can you let go'a me?" she asked, finally giving up. "I don't really do hugs."

"'m sorry for lyin' to you," Mikey said, not letting her go.

"Uh – about what?"

"Didn't tell you I was a mutant."

"Mikey, that wasn't lying. That was just not telling your secret. Now how about letting me go, yeah?"

Mikey released her and rocked back onto the balls of his feet, mumbling something excitedly to himself. It sounded like he was saying something about how this was "just like that part of Splinter's story where the girl recognised her friend", but he was talking too low and fast for her to be sure. Angel took a few breaths, to get her air back, and said:

"The hell was that for?"

Mikey gave her a sheepish grin and said, "I was freakin' out cos I recognised you, too. I mean, me and my bros _fight_ the Purple Dragons, but you're my friend and I like –" he seemed to cut himself off here and change what he was saying – "I don't wanna hurt you. But they're, like, our second or third biggest enemies, y'know?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm tough. And Hun said he thinks I'd make a good Purple Dragon, but I think he wants me there cos he thinks –" wait. Stop. Don't say _cos he thinks you like me_. Change statement. Try again. "– uh, I guess cos we're nearly the same age. I mean, you're only like, a year and a couple of months older than me, right?"

Mikey blinked. "You've met _Hun_?"

Angel noted with relief that he seemed to believe the excuse she'd given for why Hun wanted her to be a Purple Dragon. "Yeah," she said, "he let me skip my initiation test. And he's called me in for another test tonight."

Mikey gave her a concerned look.

"What?" she demanded. "Don't you get it? This is_ great_! I could spy on the Purple Dragons for you or something!"

"No." His response was immediate, and it really threw her for a loop. She would've thought he'd be all over that idea.

"Oh, come on!" Angel argued. "Don't deny you could use it. I mean, come _on_, I could help you defeat the Purple Dragons!"

Mikey raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you supposed to be _loyal_ to the Purple Dragons?"

Angel waved it off. "Family and friends first, Mikey. My parents used to say that all the time. Besides, I always wanted to be a spy."

"Are you sure? It's not like a cartoon, y'know. It's dangerous."

"I made it this far, right? Minimal injuries and all that crap."

"Not _that_ kind of dangerous! And they wouldn't be minimal injuries for long; Raph had to miss a whole week of school last year, he got hurt so bad. And if Hun found out, you'd be…" Mikey trailed off, like the thought actually hurt him.

"I know," Angel said, standing up. "Look, I better go. I wanna get as much sleep as I can before that test." She turned to go.

Mikey stood up too; grabbed her elbow to stop her. "Angel, I cannot, in good conscience, let you do that."

Angel continued walking, but a strange sound – the sound of tearing velcro – caused her to stop. She felt Mikey's hand _change_ on her elbow. His fingers seemed to stretch and group together. Turning back to him, Angel nearly had to sit down again.

It was so surreal. Sure, Mikey had confessed he was the mutant turtle, but to have him suddenly transform like that without warning her first really threw her off.

It was like time had been frozen and Mikey had been replaced with something which was the same and, simultaneously, completely different. His hair was gone and his light tan had been replaced with skin that was green and pebbled, and he only had three fingers now. He didn't have a proper nose anymore but he had the same eyes, the same freckle pattern (again, not that she'd noticed), almost exactly the same babyface. His shirt fit better now, stretched across what looked an awful lot like a shell. If Angel wasn't so distracted with surprise, she would have noticed that the ripping noise had been caused by the velcro which held Mikey's jeans together tearing apart.

All her will to fight drained as her jaw dropped and she had to use the wall (and Mikey, this time) to steady herself again.

The sneaky little shit. He must've known what her reaction would be.

* * *

He had always been the baby brother of the family, so obviously Mikey had been on the receiving end of a ton of Overprotective Big Bro moments over the years. He'd never subjected anyone to one of those moments himself, because as a general rule _he_ was the one people got protective about, but Donnie always said the rule of probability would give him the chance to have one of those moments one day.

He just… didn't expect it to be with Angel. Or even a little bit related to the Purple Dragons. Or how dangerous it would be for her if she went through with her idea of becoming a double agent.

Or, really, any of this.

But it was, and of course Angel was gonna be totally stubborn about her idea.

"You okay?" he asked. She looked kinda shook-up, but not as bad as the first time she'd seen his turtle form.

Angel nodded, one hand on his shoulder and the other forearm steadying herself against the wall.

"I hate you," she said; but she said it in the way friends say it to each other, where they're irritated but don't hate one another. Mikey removed his hand from her elbow but stayed where he was, because she wall wasn't supporting Angel very well.

"You gonna be alright?"

Angel nodded. "I think so. Just… warn me next time, okay? Jerk."

"And you're okay with…?" he trailed off, unsure how to word it, and gestured to himself.

"I will be. Just… give me another minute."

_Thank God_. She was okay with it.

Mikey was what most people would describe as a very hug-y person, so he had to restrain the urge to hug Angel again as relief washed over him. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable again. Or freak her out.

She'd kill him.

"But I still think I'd be a good spy," she continued.

Mikey sighed. She wasn't giving up on this. "We'll go see my bros," he said, "and see what they think."

Leo would understand that it was too dangerous, no matter how cool the idea was. And he was the leader, so he knew how to talk to people. He'd be able to talk some sense into her.

* * *

Michelangelo was_ not _amused. He stood to one side with his arms folded across his front and shot dirty looks at April and his bros. Not _one_ of them had backed him up on his argument that it was too dangerous for Angel to be their spy.

April had to go along with it, to be fair. She was Casey's cool friend to Angel and Mikey thought she secretly liked that status more than she would let on.

Donnie wanted to avoid an argument if there was gonna be one, so he just said he was going back to work on decoding those files and went back to his lab.

Leo thought it was a good idea because it might give them an advantage over the Purple Dragons, and Mikey thought Raph had agreed just to annoy him.

While Angel was explaining to April, Leo and Raph about the system of ranks Hun had put in place among the Purple Dragons and how you could tell all the different ranks apart, Mikey used his ninja skills to slip out into the back yard and over to the dividing fence between their part of the walled garden and Splinter's part.

The guys had stayed in their human forms while Angel was over because she wasn't as used to them being turtles as April was, and the earth and sparse grass felt noticeably cold (and a little bit damp) underneath the bare soles of his feet. He had put on an orange sweater and a longer pair of jeans, with the bottoms rolled up, when he got in.

Mikey dug his hands into his pockets and realised he had put one of the Turtles armbands he'd been working on in these jeans. He just had to decide what kanji to sew onto the bands now and they'd be done. He would borrow one of Leo's books of Japanese kanji for that, he decided, and stopped as he reached the picket fence.

"Sensei?"

Splinter opened one eye. "Yes, my son?"

Mikey crossed onto Splinter's side of the fence and his father opened the other eye. The grass on this side was thicker, healthier, greener; better maintained and softer than on the guys' side of the fence. It felt cool and nice against Mikey's bare feet and he sat cross-legged, facing Splinter.

"Angel's cool with us being mutants," he said. "She's takin' it really well."

"That is good."

"No it's not!" Mikey exclaimed, exasperated. "She wants to be our spy against the Purple Dragons! It's too dangerous!"

"Michelangelo, I am sure Angel is well aware of the risk."

"But sensei –"

"It is a decision she has made," Splinter continued, "because she is – as you say – cool with you being a mutant. I am certain she knows the danger she is putting herself in; and she is still willing to put herself in that danger because she wants to help you. Do you understand, my son?"

"I guess so, father." Mikey hugged Splinter and hopped back over the fence. "Thanks."

He kind of got what Splinter was saying; that Angel just wanted to help. And at least she didn't hate him. That didn't mean he had to be cool with it, though.

Mikey sneaked back into the living room just in time to catch the tail end of whatever Leo was saying. It sounded like a big, important plan… which he had just missed all of.

_Oh man, every time. Idiot. Resist urge to facepalm._

* * *

Later that night, Angel approached the Purple Dragon's warehouse sporting her Dragon armband, a purpose and a wooden tonfa. The guy who'd explained to her the test to earn the tonfa was waiting for her at the entrance.

"This test's to make sure you can use that thing," he said, gesturing to the tonfa, "before you earn the rank of an Armed Dragon."

The lowest on the food chain of Purple Dragons was uninitiated people; then newbies, which she pretty much was. Armed was the next up, kind of like a promotion. It meant she'd be allowed to use her tonfa at the warehouse and whenever she was sent out to break into places. And to do that, she had to prove she could use her tonfa.

"See those two guys in the ring up there?" the guy asked, nodding to a boxing ring in the middle of the the warehouse. A crowd of other Dragons covered the bleachers around the edge and even the warehouse floor. "Fight 'em. Last Man Standing gets ranked up."

Angel headed for the ring, shoving the crowd out of the way. She was jostled by people who didn't realise she was meant to be there and didn't think she was of any importance. She hid a smirk by holding a hand up to her mouth and pretending to yawn. Oh boy, if they knew the afternoon she'd had.

When she reached the ring, some unseen announcer introduced her and the entire crowd seemed to be cheering for the two goonos in the ring to bash her head in. She took a deep breath, steeled herself and hopped over the ropes.

That was apparently the signal for the fight to start, because the two goonos began to advance while the crowd of other Purple Dragons cheered. Angel knew what they were seeing: some scrawny fourteen-year-old kid who got lucky (which wasn't too far off the truth) during the test to earn her tonfa.

Well, that wasn't what they were gonna get.

The guy advancing on her left was carrying a pipe and had clearly had one too many Happy Meals, whereas the guy on her right was way too thin and was only carrying a wiffle bat which he didn't seem to know what to do with. Angel held the tonfa in what she called the defensive position, with the short end protruding just past her fist and the long end aligned with her forearm.

She dodged a swing from the wiffle bat and drove the short end of the tonfa into the skinny guy's gut – he doubled over, winded – and then yanked the wiffle bat out of his group, threw it into the crowd and whirled around just in time to hold up her right arm so the long end of the tonfa blocked the steel pipe every time Happy Meals swung it at her. The unarmed Dragon took a backseat on her list of priorities.

Angel saw the skinny guy's shadow as he straightened up. She ducked the pipe and swung her elbow backwards, this time driving the_long_ end of the tonfa into the guy's gut. She hit harder this time, however that happened, and he fell backwards, onto his ass.

He grabbed the back of her hoodie as he fell, dragging her down too, and the force of both of them crashing down caused him to land on his back, instead of the sitting position he might have ended up in if he hadn't tried to take her with him.

Angel deliberately waited for a second, then rolled off him as Happy Meals swung the pipe, which caught the skinny guy _very _solidly in the side of the head with a resounding _CLANG_ as she pushed herself back onto her feet. The skinny guy was unconscious, bleeding a little, but still breathing.

Angel was pleased to see she'd assessed the situation right: Happy Meals was _definitely_ the one to focus on. She was from Brooklyn and had inherited the fighting skills you learned there.

And now she had Happy Meals all to herself.

She turned the tonfa in her hand so it faced the other way, long end now extending past her fist and towards the ground, in what she called the offensive position. Angel and Happy Meals attacked at almost exactly the same time, swinging their weapons so they met in the air. There was another almighty _CLANG_ as hollow steel met solid wood and was dented.

Angel felt the impact all the way through her arm, but pushed it to one side as best she could and swung again. This time she caught the hand holding the steel pipe; caught it so hard the guy yelped, let go and jumped backwards. The hand didn't seem to be broken, but the skin was already an angry red.

Happy Meals seemed to give up on the pipe, putting up his fists like a boxer and advancing. But Angel wasn't an idiot; he knew he'd have to get past the tonfa's reach to get to her. Better to keep on her toes (literally) and play the offensive. It would be harder to hit a moving target and she couldn't let herself get backed into a corner.

She turned the tonfa back to its defensive position and raised that arm to block every punch Happy Meals threw at her. She earned a couple of bruises on her left arm, when his aim was way off or she couldn't turn _and_ raise the tonfa, but he was worse off. Soon his arms and knuckles were bruised up and down, and Angel was pleased with the containment of her own injuries to just her left arm.

Happy Meals evidently wasn't good at keeping himself in shape; he was overweight and had already been sweating when the fight began, whereas Angel was only just beginning to sweat. She was slightly out of breath but her opponent was panting heavily and while he stopped to catch his breath, she turned her tonfa back to its offensive position and took a lower swing this time.

The tonfa connected with his leg, forcing it out from under him. He toppled, but recovered quickly, pushing himself back up.

At this point, a small but decent portion of the crowd had started chanting _Angel! Angel! Angel!_

Encouraged, Angel swung her tonfa again. She didn't intend to hit anyone in the head, especially since her tonfa was more solid (and probably more dangerous) than the steel pipe, but she did go for Happy Meals' shoulder. The hit connected with a loud CRACK and the guy faltered, clutching his shoulder in pain.

Angel could have stopped there and then, clearly the victor, but it was Last Man _Standing_; not Last Man Fighting. While Happy Meals was distracted with his shoulder, she turned her tonfa back to its default defensive position and kicked out, knocking him down so that he landed, _hard_, on his back.

She strode up to him, not stupid enough to put a foot on his chest where he could grab it and throw her off-balance but just stupid enough to want to do _something_ to show she had won the fight. So she raised both arms into the air. The crowd cheered for her.

Kind of fickle, but that wasn't her problem.

Hun stepped into the ring and made some kind of speech congratulating her while a few other Dragons carried the two goonos away. He took Angel's armband from her and replaced it with a similar one, with a blue background, instead of Newbie Yellow.


	16. Of Mirrors and Photo Albums

**A/N: sweet; check it out guys, we're on chapter sixteen! Huge kudos for all the support. I really appreciate it**

**TMNTlover600: Agreed!  
****Shiego627: Me too  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much! I liked it too  
****Thor-Born: Yeah. Bad ideas, bad ideas everywhere!  
****GuestZ: Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it  
****Layj: Thanks! I try to update every week, so hopefully you continue to enjoy reading!  
****Love: Thank you so much, I'm glad you think so**

**Sorry for the late update, guys! I've been away visiting family, AND I have a cold. Luckily my college is letting us have a day off so I could finish this chapter sooner**

**Also, random made-up family members for April in this just cos I wanted to write irritating family**

**This chapter is entirely Apritello! There is more, as well as some Leorai, planned for the next chapter. That one's also going to include Thanksgiving, so I can hopefully not have the Christmas chapter in too late**

**If you don't hear from me again before then, have a great Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate)!**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Of Mirrors and Photo Albums**

_Look at this photograph  
__Every time I do it makes me laugh  
__How did our eyes get so red?  
__And what the hell is on Joey's_ _head?_  
_~ Photograph _by Nickelback

April and her dad had done their best to take care of each other when her mom had died. They had both been a mess in their own ways for a while, and in truth her dad still was sometimes, but it was more out of habit now than grief. Kirby O'Neil was often busy with work, and it made him slightly forgetful. As in, _Oops I forgot to go to bed and it's now three in the morning and I should really get some sleep but I just had a brilliant idea I should write down first__. _That sort of forgetful.

And with her dad busy with work, and herself busy with school and the Turtles, April relished in the fact that they always designated dinner as a time when they _knew_ they would spend time together, no questions asked.

Especially after Mom died, April and her dad had always spent a lot of time together. They didn't exactly grow apart as she grew up, but they _did_ end up spending less time together. So although dinner was the only time she knew for definite she'd be spending time with her dad, it felt more special than that to April.

She got in not long before dinner, dumped her school bag and went to help her dad finish dinner. She was sore from training and wanted nothing more than to soak her muscles in a warm bath, but dinner was her first priority.

"So how was school?" her dad asked as they sat down.

"Well… uh, not bad," April said, choosing her words carefully.

Irma had been off sick, so April had lunch with the Turtles for the first time. It had been a lot like the day she first visited the dojo: she felt like she was seeing a new side of them. Sure, she'd had lunch with them, but never at _school_ before.

April felt almost as though she was imposing, as the guys had never spent their lunch break with anybody but themselves before. She gathered that they usually spoke in Japanese during lunch because (either having gotten too used to her, or having forgotten she was there) they were constantly switching back and forth between English and Japanese.

The guys had offered to teach her some Japanese, and Donnie and Mikey had translated for her during lunch, but she suspected they'd deliberately skipped some of Raphael's more… _colourful_ language.

"I had lunch with the guys today," she said.

"Those boys you walk to school with?" Kirby asked. "The Hamato brothers?"

April nodded, smiling a little. "That's them."

"I'd like to meet them some time. You talk about them a lot."

"We're pretty close," April shrugged. "I'll see what I can do."

The conversation went quiet for a minute. April was about to ask her dad about his day when he said, "Your aunt invited us over for Thanksgiving."

April groaned. Not that she didn't love her family, but visiting her aunt for Thanksgiving meant being trapped out-of-state with her snobbish seventeen-year-old cousin who reminded April of a less murderous version of the Heathers (and she hoped her cousin wouldn't get any ideas from the movie); an admittedly more tolerable nine-year-old cousin who was still into princesses in a _big__ way_; and a baby cousin she hadn't met yet but who was probably inclined to throw up on everything.

This was without the constant barrage of how _a pretty girl like you should really have a boyfriend at this point,_ because apparently Auntie Jean felt April's status in regards to the dating scene was extremely important.

To reiterate: it wasn't that April didn't love her family; it was just that she struggled to tolerate them sometimes.

"Do we have to go?" she asked.

"We go every year," her dad pointed out. "Why?"

April voiced her complaint about her cousins and her aunt.

"Well, it's up to_ you_, not Jean," her dad pointed out. "But I'm sure you could always ask one of your friends to pretend to be your boyfriend if you really want to get her off your case."

"How many cartoons have you been watching?" April scoffed. She had never been a fan of those _I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend_ situations they had in a lot of cartoons.

"Just a suggestion," her dad shrugged. "I'll stand up for you if Jean starts bugging you, alright?"

"Sure, dad. Thanks."

"You said one of the boys likes you, right? That might satisfy your aunt for a couple of hours."

April snorted a little into her dinner. "More like five minutes."

"Close enough. Which brother did you say he was?"

"Donnie," April said fondly. "He's the brother with the long hair. My lab partner in AP Science. You'd like him."

She resisted the urge to hit her forehead on the table as soon as those three words left her mouth. She did _not_ just say that, right?

"Well, like I said, invite them over some time."

"Okay. How was work?"

After dinner, April went to her room and plucked a small, yellow hand-mirror off her dresser. It used to belong to her mom, whose favourite colour had been yellow, even if she didn't wear it much. She used to say yellow suited April better, anyway.

The mirror had a small chip in the top-right corner from where April had dropped it as a kid; it was the same one she had looked in instead of the big, chipped mirror her elementary school had taken down. She wouldn't describe herself as superstitious, but somehow she got the feeling the trick with the mirror had worked. The memory was old and vague, but there was something oddly familiar about it now, like the person she thought she saw really _had_ been someone who'd had a big impact on her life.

April sighed. If she had looked into the hand-mirror instead of putting it down, she might have managed to catch a glimpse, a couple of buildings away and over her shoulder, of the guys on patrol.

* * *

One of the most popular things to make up mini-urban legends and scary stories about was a mirror in the bathroom next to the art room. What had actually happened was that one of the delivery men had dropped it, but a couple of other guys had saved it. Not that any of the kids knew that; that was why there were so many stories going round about it.

It had a big chip in one corner and the art class who'd made the border this year had done it up to look all old and cool and antique. They always made a border for it because the kids kept wanting to touch the part of the mirror where the corner was chipped off, and the school seemed to think the fascination would die down if nobody could see the big chip in the corner. Obviously, that wasn't working.

If anything, the borders just drew more attention, because the mirror with the chip in the top-right corner was the only one in the school which had a border.

Recently, one of the sixth graders had decided it was a magic mirror, which used to belong to a witch who had chipped a corner off so she could remember which mirror she'd enchanted. And apparently, if you looked into the mirror _just right_, it would show you a person who was going to have a big impact on your life.

There was not only a huge waiting list to look in the mirror, which was run by the sixth graders because technically it was their bathroom; there was also a constant line to see it. And today, April O'Neil was right at the front.

It was weird because yesterday she'd been right at the back.

The reason she'd been allowed to skip was because one of the fourth graders had wanted to jump to the front but the sixth grader he asked wouldn't let him. The fourth grader had then decided it was a good idea to start picking on the sixth grader and try to get the kid in trouble when he retaliated – "Miss, Miss, that Sixth Grader hit me for no good reason. No, I didn't provoke him. I was just playing with my friends, honest!" – and the sixth grader had nearly been in a lot of trouble.

Luckily April had seen the whole thing, and had defended the sixth grader because, unlike the kid who'd tried to cut the line, she at least had a sense of right and wrong. The sixth grader tracked her down on the way back from school to say thanks and tell her he'd gone to the guys in charge of the list and had April's name put right at the front.

She had signed up for the list out of curiosity over whether the story was true, but she really _did _want to look in the mirror. And if she really _did_ see someone in it, awesome. She could wait and see if they really _would_ have a big impact on her life. If she didn't see anyone, at least she could say she tried.

Except that now she couldn't.

Irma wore a solemn expression when April greeted her on the playground. "The school had the mirror replaced last night!" she wailed. "This _bites_! I wanted to see what my first boyfriend was gonna look like!"

April rolled her eyes. "Irma, calm down. How d'you know it woulda been your first boyfriend, anyway?"

"It just _would_! And –"

"_Irma_." April's firm tone shut Irma up immediately and she said, "What's going on?"

"They took the magic mirror away and had it replaced with a normal one!" Irma exclaimed. She had always been convinced the mirror really was magic. April was more sceptical about it.

"_What_!? Why?"

"I dunno," Irma shrugged. "I guess they got annoyed that everyone was lining up outside that bathroom every recess."

"Oh man," April grumbled. "I was really looking forward to looking in that mirror, too."

April had just parted ways with Irma on her way home when she had a dumb idea, and reached into her pocket. Mom had given April lots of little gifts and bits of advice before she had to go to heaven, and the yellow hand-mirror was one of them. April carried it round even now because it was one of Mom's gifts to her and it fit right into her pocket. She pulled the little mirror out of her pocket, but it got caught on the denim and she dropped it onto the sidewalk by accident.

"Shoot!"

April stooped to pick up the mirror and looked into it from every possible angle, checking it for damage. There was just the one little chip in the top-right corner. It wasn't broken too bad, but she still felt kinda guilty for dropping it.

Something caught April's eye, and she blinked and adjusted the mirror. Over her shoulder, she thought she could see a boy who looked to be about her age. He was wearing baggy clothes and a hoodie with the hood pulled up over his baseball cap, and for a second April swore his skin was _green_.

But when she turned to look, she realised she must've just been confused. The boy was Caucasian, with a couple of strands of long, brown hair falling out of the hood of his shirt. He was carrying a couple of bags of what looked like groceries, and he was heading into an alley.

April thought about following him but didn't bother. If the trick with the hand-mirror had worked like the mirror the school had taken down was supposed to, she'd find out who the boy was sooner or later.

She forgot about that moment until, eight years later and completely by accident, April found out who the boy was.

* * *

Having grown tired of doing it himself and put together a computer program to decode those files and alert him when it was done, Donnie was pleased to be freed up to work on something else. He was looking forward to starting on the van Raph and Casey had found for him, but apparently there was something he had to do first.

The problem – although he didn't really consider it to be a problem – was that Donnie never used his room. While he did miss the Lair back in the sewers (he hadn't thought about his old home for the whole of October, and that knowledge saddened him. Yes, it was nice to have a normal, above-ground, _human_ house, but he had lived in the sewers for almost fifteen years and it was hard not to feel homesick thinking about it), it wasn't that he didn't think of their above-ground house as his home; it was just that he'd never used his own bedroom since he was about ten or eleven.

His brothers and sensei were used to him not using his own room, and they were all cool with it… but April wasn't.

They were in their human forms today because Splinter had wanted them to demonstrate basic ninjitsu moves for April's training so she could mimic them and were too tired (read as: _lazy_) to change back.

Mikey asked to borrow one of Leo's kanji books, and Leo said he'd put those in with Donnie's things when they moved, because he had all the kanji memorised and didn't need them. Donnie had gone up to his room to fetch the boxes his books were in so he could find the one Mikey wanted, and April had tagged along out of curiosity. She was expecting to see science posters and jokes all over the walls, and maybe a blackboard or something with notes and blueprints all over it.

But even from the outside, the room at the farthest end of the hall bore signs that it was hardly ever used. The handle had _dust_ on it. Oh, his clothes were all packed away and the bed was neatly made, but even that was hidden under cardboard boxes, which were everywhere in the room and made it hard to move.

"Jesus, Donnie," April commented, "do you sleep in this room or use it for storage?"

Donnie didn't answer; instead, he found the first couple of boxes marked '**BOOKS**', with which the boxes were overflowing, and stacked them just outside the door.

"Donnie…?" April asked, in a tone which said _I'm serious so you better listen to me_. Donnie swallowed hard and turned to her. "You _do_ sleep in here, right?" she clarified.

"Uh…"

"Seriously?" April sighed, exasperated. "You moved in here _when_, exactly?"

"During summer vacation," Donnie shrugged.

"You've been living here maybe _six_ months and you didn't sleep in your own room _once_?" April demanded. "Why the hell aren't there cobwebs covered in dust in here? You must've stayed in here just _once_. Like – like when you were moving."

"Well…" they had actually had all-brother sleepovers in the living room while they were moving in. And when they didn't do that, Donnie slept on the couch or in his lab.

April huffed. "Seriously? _Donnie_!"

Was it bad that Donnie liked the way April said his name, even when she was irritated?

"That's it," she said firmly. "As soon as we find that book for Mikey, we are going to start unpacking all your stuff and you _are_ going to sleep in your own bed by the end of the month. Got it?"

"_Please_ stay overnight for that," Raph sniggered from the top of the stairs, approaching with a smirk and his arms crossed. "Trust me, it's gonna be hilarious."

Donnie flushed with annoyance. _For shell's sake, Raph__._

"What are you doing?" Donnie asked, as Raph bent down to pick up the boxes he had stacked by the door.

"You were taking too long," Raph teased. "Thought you couldn't handle it."

"I'm not a_ weakling_!" Donnie protested, following Raph downstairs with April on his heels.

"Dude!" Mikey exclaimed when he spotted the boxes. "Our old photo albums! Oh man, I _love_ these things. Can I –"

"_No_," Raph said immediately.

"Let him, Raph," Leo instructed.

"Fine – but I won't be happy about it."

"That's okay by me."

* * *

"I didn't think you guys'd have any family photos," April said, taking a seat in the middle of the couch. "You know, having lived in the sewers and all. And being mutants… I didn't think it'd be easy to get much money."

"Oh, it wasn't," Leo said, leaning on the back of the couch. "We were poor as dirt. But we scavenged a lot. And when we realised we could turn human, we used to run errands."

"Yeah, and you wouldn't believe how much money people drop down sewer grates," Raph added.

For a moment, April felt bad for them. She'd realised the Hamatos couldn't have had much money for a long time, but she hadn't considered that they'd actually been _poor_.

Mikey, who was the most in-tune with peoples' feelings, must have noticed because he immediately jumped onto the couch on her left and put the first photo album on her lap. "You're gonna love these photos, Ape. D had a dark room for a bit before it turned into his lab."

Donnie smiled proudly and sat on April's other side. Leo and Raph leaned between the shoulders of the three on the couch.

The albums were almost like a family journal. There were one or two photos on each page – all Polaroids in the first album; some pictures later on bearing evidence that they were taken when Donnie was still figuring out how to use his dark room; but many taken when he knew what he was doing. Each photo had a small entry underneath it, or at least a sentence to explain what the photo was of.

Most had been taken by Master Splinter, but there was evidence that the boys had taken photos, too; the ones they had taken were usually attempts at group shots taken too close to the camera, or were blurry, or someone had their thumb in the way.

Splinter had taken photos of all their major milestones:

There were photos of the first time Raph had broken something (he did _not_ look guilty), which had apparently only been recorded because of the power it took to break that chair; the first book Donnie finished on his own; the first time Leo played the role of leader to his brothers; Mikey with his first drawing.

For a while, all the pictures were of the guys in their turtle forms. On the last page of the first album, April found what she had been waiting for: the first photos of them as humans. They couldn't be older than four or five in the picture.

The brothers were gathered together excitedly, wearing oversized shirts gathered, probably, from a nearby dumpster. They grinned at the camera. Leo's black hair, which even then seemed almost blue, reached his shoulders in the photo. Raph's hair fell about his face messily and stood up significantly less than it did now. Mikey's hair was far curlier back then, but his childish grin hadn't changed. Donnie looked almost the same, albeit thinner and paler.

In fact, all of the guys were thinner and paler in the photo. Again April started to feel bad for them, but that stopped when she read the entry Splinter had written, handwriting slightly shaky from excitement:

_I previously believed my surrogate family had been cursed to hide in the sewers forever, unaccepted by society and unable to reveal ourselves to the world we came from. I was afraid my sons would not be able to live a normal life, as they would if they were completely human. I now know that by some miracle, I have been mistaken.  
__Michelangelo had been trying to imagine himself as a human today when, before my eyes, he transformed into one! I do not believe there are words for what I felt when I witnessed this; however, I believe the words which come closest must be '_shock_' and '_overjoyed_'.  
__My other sons and I have managed the transformation also. It does not last long, but with practise I believe we shall be able to retain these forms for extended  
periods of time.  
__The sense of relief I feel that my sons will be able to experience anything close to an ordinary human life is overwhelming. I shall continue their ninja training so they may protect one another and, perhaps, the improvement of their concentration will allow them to accelerate the process of maintaining their human forms for longer._

Mikey fetched the second photo album. Goddammit, the guys had been _adorable_ when they were little. April didn't fail to point this out, much to the horror and embarrassment of everyone but Mikey, who was well aware that he was still the cute one.

There was one photo of a young Raphael holding a pair of _sais_, proudly sporting a small cut on his arm and beaming from ear to ear. The short caption read, _Raphael with his first pair of __sais__. He needs practise but adores them._

"You have teeth?" April teased, turning to Raph. "I didn't know you could _smile_!"

Raph's green eyes narrowed and his only verbal reply was, "Shut up."

At least the others found it funny. And April could tell the boys had always loved ninjitsu. There were photos of all of them on their first day of weapons' training. Mikey had given himself bruises and Leo's swords were a little heavy for him. Leo mentioned that these photos were taken when they were beginning to stay human for longer.

But the photo from this set which entertained her most was that there was a photo of a human Donnie with short hair. In all the others, his hair reached to between his shoulders. He had marks on his arms which suggested his brothers had held him down, his hair was cut unevenly as though it had been chopped away as quickly as possible and he clutched a small bo staff, glaring at the photographer and pouting.

The caption read: _We decided to cut Donatello's hair so it does not tangle in his bo staff when he uses it as a human. He was not pleased and put up an impressive fight._

"Do I dare ask?" April said.

"He kicked me in the nose," Raph said. "Probably woulda broken it if I was human."

"What can I say? I didn't want my hair cut."

"You _kicked_ me in the _face_, Don. That was _not_ necessary."

Leo quickly swapped places with Raph, then reached between April and Donnie's shoulders to flip the page over. "See that?" he asked. "Next time he turned human, it was long again."

Yes: there was a photo of Donnie in baggy jeans and a hoodie, holding a baseball cap in one hand. His hair was indeed long again. The caption was incredulous, full of theories and other ideas to keep Donnie's hair from getting tangled around the bo staff.

"Without going too in-depth," Donnie said smugly, "we're able to transform by altering our genetic information at will. My guess is that it goes for hair too, because somehow Leo managed to shorten his hair, Raph managed to make his own stand up, and Mikey successfully altered the curls in his hair. I always liked mind long, anyway."

April looked down at the photo again and realised she recognised it; but vaguely, like something she hadn't thought about in a long time.

But, well, of course she hadn't thought about it in a long time. It suddenly clicked that the boy in the photo, the little boy with long brown hair and a baseball cap and a hoodie, was someone she had last seen eight years ago.

She probably should've realised, now that she knew the guys, that the boy in her mom's hand-mirror had been Donnie. That was why she thought he had green skin: he must've accidentally slipped back into his turtle form for a second. And that was why he was carrying groceries into an alley, too. It had been his turn to go grocery shopping, and there must have been a manhole in that alley.

Either way, it was one hell of a coincidence.

And maybe the story from school had something to it. He'd definitely had a big impact on her life.

"_You_," April breathed, glancing at Donnie out the corner of her eye. There was no denying anymore that she really had seen someone with green skin. Good God, how had she not connected the two before? "It was _you_."

"Hmm?" Donnie asked, inclining his head toward her.

"Uh – nothing," April exclaimed quickly. Seeing the way she was looking at his brother, Leonardo wondered briefly if April was going to take Donatello out of the room and kiss him. Donnie sure wouldn't mind.

Leo and the others had noticed recently that April was gravitating to Donnie more and more, in a different way to how she had at first. Donnie was the first of the brothers she befriended, and so it stood to reason that he was a little closer to her than the others were, but this was… different.

Mikey was more attuned to the emotions of others, but even Raph, whose emotional radar usually equalled that of a rock, had mentioned the other day (in private, of course) that he thought April was showing some interest in Donnie. Leo and Raph shared a nod and Raph stood up, announcing he was going on a pizza run and asking if anybody wanted anything.

"C'mon Mikey," Leo said, grabbing his kanji book out of one of the boxes and picking Mikey up by the collar, "let's go see what kanji you want."

"But I wanna stay and look at the –"

Leo gave him a _look_ which silenced him instantly and they left.

April didn't notice anything off at first. The bit which made her realise something was going on, was that Raph announced he was going on a pizza run and shot her a similar _go-get-him_ wink to the ones Irma had given her at the Halloween party; then she realised what he meant and blushed. The others had all left to give her some _alone time _with Donnie.

Oh God. _Now_ what was she supposed to do? April had never been in this situation before; at least, not with a guy she liked in the same way as she liked Donnie. She had no idea how she was meant to act. Luckily for her, if he noticed that his brothers had all left and they were alone together, he didn't let on.

"I like your hair better long, too," she said quietly. Donnie cleared his throat.

"R-really?"

"Uh-huh," April nodded. She was aware that she was coming across as flirtatious. Well… good. It was probably for the best, anyway.

"Thanks," Donnie said. It sounded like the only word he could get out, and he had to clear his throat again and repeat himself because the first time, the word came out too high.

_Dammit, April, _do _something,_ part of her mind scolded. _Screw talking; that's just procrastination._

Now, deliberately left alone with him, she couldn't restrain herself any more. At some point, and without realising she had done it, April had shifted so her legs were curled up beside her and one arm was on the back of the couch. With just the slightest trace of hesitation lingering in her mind, April allowed herself to reach out and brush her fingertips gently against the hair of his ponytail.

It was a testament to how strong Donnie's senses were that his breath instantly caught and his muscles stiffened, and he sat completely upright for a moment. April felt probably more pleased with herself than she should have done when she spotted the blush rising in his cheeks. But she wasn't focusing on that.

Donnie's hair was soft; sleek. She had no idea whether he took care of it or whether it grew that way naturally, but it put hers to shame. And she always looked after her own hair, thanks to a force of habit. Years of having Irma Langinstein for a best friend tended to do that to you.

"A-April?" Donnie's voice cracked ever so slightly and he looked like he had no idea how he was supposed to react.

Join the club. And hey, wasn't it supposed to be _Mikey__'s _job to be the cute one?

"Why are you…?"

He didn't know how to finish the sentence, and it broke the trance somehow. April's hand snapped back to her side and she immediately sat with her back to the back of the couch and her feet on the ground. She cleared her throat and muttered, "Sorry."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Donnie said quickly. "It's nice to have someone not try to pull my hair out. I just–"

April had to stop Donnie before the nerves got hold of him and he couldn't stop talking.

"Wanna go see a movie with me?" she blurted out. "If we leave now, we should be able to make a showing before dinner."

Donnie's cheeks turned even redder. "N-now?"

"Yes, now. You know – if you want to."

"Sure." He gave April her coat and walked with her out the door in the calmest of manners.

Internally he was screaming with joy.


	17. Took Them Long Enough

**A/N: so… it's been over four months now since I started this story. I absolutely LOVE how far and fast it's progressing. Hopefully I can keep this up. I think it's because TMNT is such an active fandom, and you guys keep encouraging me. Even just reading your reviews helps me come up with ideas when I'm stuck**

**Tmntlover2013: Thanks and you're welcome!  
****Mistystar123: Good to know  
****GuestZ: Donnie and April being shy/awkward are way too much fun to write. I'm glad you're happy for the update. Thanks, the cold shouldn't last much longer; it's mostly just a really annoying blocked nose now. And you're very welcome  
****Thor-Born: Irma definitely needs a hobby, but I'm basing her personality on the '87 cartoon so unfortunately she's kind of boy-crazy. The others have pretty much all unpacked; it's just that Donnie kind of stuck everything in his room to unpack when it was needed (I may or may not be guilty of that myself)  
****LeoAndKarailover: Yes!  
****The potatoe one: Thanks so much! I'm really glad you're enjoying it! I agree with basically everything you've said here. Glad someone picked up on Angel being in denial. Thanks again  
****Memmek10k: Thanks!**

**I know this was meant to be the Thanksgiving chapter, but it was going to end up being too long so I've had to push it back. Hope you guys enjoyed Christmas! Also, to any Whovians out there: did the Christmas special remind you of the Dream Beavers or is it just me?**

**Warning: this chapter includes Leorai, MikeyxAngel and Apritello  
Also, I feel like I've been neglecting the fact that they're in high school, so there's a small scene in here with the two types of Popular Kids I've encountered at high school  
**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Took Them Long Enough**

_His glance had fireworks in it  
__We kissed, my heart did a  
__Whiz-bang, flip-flop  
__Heaven for a minute  
_~ _Jimmy_ from _Thoroughly Modern Millie_

Leo retreated into Mikey's room with said brother and the book on kanji, hoping Donnie or April (or both) would make the most of the time alone. Klunk looked up from where he was napping in his cat bed, but decided he was comfortable where he was and went back to sleep.

"Lazy cat," Leo muttered; not spitefully, but so Klunk knew what Leo thought of him. Klunk mewed as though sassing Leo back.

As Mikey began thumbing through the book for ideas, Leo's phone buzzed, indicating a text from Karai. She wanted him to meet her on a street not too far away; he replied that he'd be there soon, apologised to Mikey, grabbed his jacket from his room and, out of respect for April and Donnie's privacy, left via his bedroom window.

It took him less than fifteen minutes to get there and when Karai greeted him with a kiss, he felt an odd sense of accomplishment. She was wearing the same jewellery as she had worn in the picture she sent him on the day of the event for Saki Enterprises, but with a black shirt and matching pants, both of which had stitched-on silver designs on the sides. Leo felt his heart beat a little faster.

"Lovely necklace," he commented; but instead of something witty, he received a small, almost _sad_ smile from Karai. She fingered the necklace.

"My mother gave it to me," she said quietly, "the last time I saw her."

Leo wanted to say something then – to apologise for bringing it up; try to comfort her – but Karai did not seem sad in the sense that she was possibly going to cry. She seemed more… longing. But Splinter always said it did little good to dwell too long on the past, so instead he decided to distract her.

"I think I'm underdressed," he joked, indicating his blue sweater, jeans and dark jacket. Karai returned from her memories then.

"I got you something," she told him, smirking slyly and reaching into the pocket of her jacket with her right hand.

"Yeah?" Leo took Karai's left hand with his right. "Do I have to make three guesses?"

"Now why didn't I think of that?" she joked. "Nah; I'll be nice this time. I hear you're into _Space Heroes_."

Well aware that a lot of people thought _Space Heroes_ was dorky, Leo put on his best pokerface. "Yeah, I watch it from time to time," he lied. Given the option, he'd probably be watching it _all_ the time.

"Uh-huh," Karai said slowly; and Leo could tell she didn't believe him. "Well, I've never actually _seen_ the cartoon, but I figured you'd like it… call it a surprise date, if you want."

She withdrew her hand from her pocket and presented him with two tickets to the most recent _Space Heroes_ movie, which Leo hadn't been able to see yet. He withheld a fanboyish gasp of excitement but Karai could see his eyes shining.

"And who knows," she continued, "maybe it'll be like trying hot chocolate. I might turn out to like it after all."

Leo nodded enthusiastically. "One of the best ways to get into a series," he agreed, "is to watch the movie first."

This… this was really happening, right? Hamato Leonardo's girlfriend, Oroku Karai, was asking him to go see _Space Heroes_ with her at the movies?

"Yeah, somehow I didn't think you'd say no," Karai teased, pressing the tickets into his free hand.

Okay, there were two options at this point: either this really _was_ happening, or Leo was having the best dream ever, because he was pretty sure he wasn't dead. He kissed her again.

"Calm down, Leo," she advised jokingly. "That's what movie theatres put in a back row for."

Leo smirked and pocketed his ticket. "We better get going then, right?"

He felt smug as they set off. Karai had already told him about the event she went to where Chaplin had tried to ask her out, and now he felt almost like they were in some kind of a rivalry without Chaplin even knowing it. They had discussed it the night of the event, on the rooftop they always met on.

* * *

Leo smiled to himself as Karai allowed him to kiss her, despite his being in his turtle form. He'd been waiting to kiss her again since she sent him the picture of her in a dress – which, to his disappointment, she'd changed out of – and was glad she didn't find it off-putting that he was actually a mutant, not a true human.

Karai kissed him back, causing some surprise and happiness within him, offered to spar with him and, as they drew their swords, she said, "How'd you figure out how to do that with a pair of shorts?"

It only took him half a second to realise she was talking about the picture he'd sent back. "Mikey goes on a lot of weird websites," he shrugged. "It's about time one of them came in useful."

"Best laugh I've had all day," Karai said. Then her attacks turned more… vicious. She put more power into it. Leo didn't know who she was mad at, or why, but he pitied them.

"Okay, Karai, I'll bite. What happened?"

"Saki made me go to an event for Saki Enterprises."

"And here I was thinking you'd got all dressed up just for me," Leo joked. "So what happened?"

"He also invited Chaplin, who asked me out. I feel like they were planning it for some reason."

Okay, _pity_ wasn't the right word. Not by a long shot. Leo felt his muscles tense possessively and he had to call an end to their sparring before they both got mad and accidentally killed each other. Karai agreed but looked like she still wanted to hit something.

Leo was actually rather confused by his reaction: generally he was very much in control of his emotions; but then again, he'd never really had a reason to feel jealous before. Possessive, yes, considering he had three brothers; but not for a couple of years now, and he'd never felt possessive over a _person_ before. He had no idea how he was going to react, and if Karai's tone was anything to go on, she was already wound up tight enough for the both of them.

They sat down and Leo wrapped an arm around Karai's shoulders. Her muscles were so tense, he almost thought she was developing a shell.

"What happened?" he asked, gently rubbing his hand up and down her upper arm, in what he hoped she would find to be a soothing manner.

"Oh, I totally agreed," Karai answered sarcastically. "Then we made out for a bit. While plotting against your family."

"How could you?" Leo asked mockingly. "Need I remind you, Oroku Karai, that you have a boyfriend?"

"Oh yeah," Karai said, as though she had only just remembered. Leo was pleased to find that, as they joked, her muscles relaxed a bit. "Damn. Who is he again?"

Leo chuckled. "Come on, Karai. Tell me what happened."

"I said no, obviously! I may be the Shredder's daughter but I'm not without honour. At least, that's what I aim for."

That was very true. Leo would never admit to it, but one of the first things he ever noticed about Karai; _really_ noticed about her – this was after he discovered she was in the Foot clan but before he realised he was attracted to her – was that unlike the Shredder, honour mattered very much to Karai. He could imagine a _very_ unpleasant argument if Shredder ever tried to get her to do something she considered dishonourable.

Raph had once, not long after finding out Leo had a small crush on Karai, informed him that he was 'honoursexual'. There was a small chance it was true, because Leo wouldn't have allowed himself to think the word _attractive_ about Karai if she didn't have something positive going for her… at least, so he told himself.

"Alright," he said, "that's good. Is there anything else I need to know?"

Karai paused. Then, thoughtfully, she said, "Shredder is now… _aware_ that we are working together for our drama elective."

Leo tensed briefly and sucked in a sharp breath. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

It was stupid and potentially dangerous to tell the Shredder, but more than likely, Karai would run him through if he said so.

"I figured he'd back off a bit if he wants me to pass," Karai shrugged. "At least until the Christmas holidays. We can't very well give our performance if one of the only two people who can be bothered with it is dead."

Leo gave a small, warm smile. Her accent had slipped back into her voice for a second just then. He had missed it a little bit.

"And if he doesn't back off?" Leo asked.

"Then I tried and I'm very sorry," Karai said. "But I couldn't think of anything better at the time."

* * *

Leo sighed and shook the memory off. He was still tensing up and revisiting the jealous, possessive feelings whenever he thought about Karai admitting Chaplin had asked her out. And being aware that the Shredder knew he was working with Karai, even in context, made him uncomfortable. It wasn't doing him any good to worry about either, but he couldn't help it.

So far, though, attacks from the Foot clan seemed to have eased off. Maybe the Shredder really _did_ want Karai to pass drama.

_Sure,_ he thought bitterly, _or maybe pigs are gonna fly outta his –_

"Hey, isn't that your brother and O'Neil?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Leo realised first that they had reached the movie theatre; then he realised Karai was right: in the crowded lobby, Leo could see April and Donnie heading off to whichever movie they'd decided to go see.

He kind of wanted to go over there and say hi just to bug Donnie, but that was more Raph's thing, and he didn't want to be a _total_ jerk (not that Raph was a jerk… usually). Besides, he was on a date of his own. And Donnie looked perfectly happy. He was grinning whenever he thought April wasn't looking and seemed to be in kind of a daze.

"Took them long enough," Leo muttered under his breath. "Want some popcorn?"

He reached into his pocket for his wallet but Karai stopped him, saying, "It's my turn to pay."

A surprise date with Karai to go see _Space Heroes_ in which she planned to pay for everything… had Leo died and not noticed? Or maybe he'd fallen asleep in Mikey's room. Both seemed plausible.

Leo honestly thought Karai hadn't been expecting for them to pay attention to the movie. She certainly did a good job at distracting him throughout the commercials; but once the movie started, he was glued to it. It took her a while, but she got into the movie, too.

"I always wondered where you get the whole Cornball thing from," Karai whispered at one point. "Now I know."

"Hey," Leo countered, "at least it's good corn."

"And you know the worst part? I can't argue with that."

Leo glanced sideways several times at Karai while the movie was on, and felt oddly pleased to see her actually getting into the storyline.

"I get it now," she said when the movie ended and they began to leave. "Captain Ryan's your hero, isn't he?"

"Uh… maybe."

Karai smirked. "That's kinda cute."

"First of all, how dare you."

For whatever reason, that remark set them both off laughing. It reminded Leo just a bit of the first day of Drama, when Party Boy had made his dumb comment about them getting it on and he had seen Karai laugh for the first time… only now she wasn't restraining it, and he wasn't going to deny it: he _liked_ it when she laughed. She looked almost _cute_.

With a great deal of reluctance, they parted ways in the same place they had met up. Leo kissed her again before they did, wishing more than anything he could walk her home without the risk of being recognised and incinerated by her father.

Speaking of which, he really ought to be getting home. It was no good avoiding the wrath of Karai's father if his own dad was going to kill him.

* * *

Donnie was, absolutely and without question, on Cloud Nine.

Not only had April been _flirting_ with him, but she had asked him to go to the movies with her – which could technically be counted as a date – and she had then proceeded to hold his hand the whole time. Yes, they had split the price of the tickets and paid for their own food, but it still counted, right?

_Right_, he thought, answering his own question.

And when the movie ended and she had to get home for dinner, she let him walk her home!

She still hadn't let go of his hand yet, either. Best day _ever_!

"That was a _great_ movie!" April gushed. "I couldn't stop laughing! But those special effects…" She pretended to shudder. Her cheeks were still flushed, a grin lingering on her face, from laughing at the movie. _God_, she looked pretty.

"I kind of like cheesy special effects," Donnie said. "It reminds me how far technology's come in such a short space of time."

"Yeah, I guess," April said, "but I tend to think that anything coming out after _Jurassic Park_ has no excuse, y'know?"

Donnie was about to reply when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He opened the text and huffed in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" April asked.

"The program I created finished decoding the first file," Donnie answered. April smiled up at him.

"See; that was so much faster than trying to decode those files manually. Why didn't you just create that program straight away? Trying to do all that decoding by hand was killing you."

"Sentimentality, I suppose," Donnie shrugged. "Or at least something very similar. I like to do things manually wherever possible. Nothing beats finishing a project without having to get a computer program to do it for you. I get a strange sense of pride from it."

"You damn well should," April commented. "So what's the problem?"

"It's the file," Donnie replied. "It doesn't make much sense… it's just a report on mutagen testing." He returned his t-Phone to his pocket.

"I guess you'll have to wait for a couple more files to get decoded," April shrugged.

They rounded the corner and approached April's apartment building, and when she looked up at Donnie again, her gaze had become… how did he dare put it? Soft; warm; _fond_?

"I had a really fun evening," she said quietly.

"M-me too," Donnie said, suddenly blushing again. He liked April – he always had, ever since he first laid eyes on her – and somehow, that translated into his being able to spend time with her and have fun as a friend, but struggling to get his words out the moment things turned more intimate. He wished it wasn't like that, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"Thanks for walking me home, too," April added, giving his hand a small squeeze.

"It's nothing," Donnie said, far too quickly. He was trying to play it off like it really was no big deal, but in actuality, April letting him walk her home was a _huge_ deal.

They came to a stop outside the door to the warmly-lit lobby of the apartment building, not entirely sure what to do next. Did they part ways now, plain and simple? Did one of them invite the other to do something else together; hang out after school tomorrow, just the two of them, for example? Suggest that they do this again some time? What did –

Without warning, April stood on her toes, wrapped her arms around Donnie's neck and gave him a kiss. A real one; on the lips. It was incredibly fast. Hardly even a second – barely a peck and giving Donnie no time whatsoever to react – but _holy shell_.

It would have been erroneous to say Donnie didn't feel something when April kissed him.

Whatever it was, it did something previously thought to be impossible: left him lost for words. Usually Donatello, the _smart one_, could describe things, at the very least. He could describe how soft April's lips were on his, just brushing them for a second; how gentle her arms were around him, barely ghosting his shoulders; how his eyes shot fully open, probably making him look like something out of a comic book.

But whatever the _something_ he felt from the kiss was, it was indescribable. All he knew was that it was what, when he saw her turning to go inside, made him reach out, his fingers catching her elbow.

Donnie was almost certain his face was bright red, and he probably looked absolutely ridiculous, but he didn't care. For once, instead of worrying, he resolved to just go for it.

He reached down and kissed April O'Neil. Soon his hands were at her waist and her arms were wrapped around his neck again, fingers gently brushing against his hair.

They broke apart after a few far-too-short seconds and April gave him an incredibly warm smile before she winked and headed inside. Donnie walked home in a daze, cheeks tinted red and pupils slightly dilated. When his brothers asked where he had been, all he could do was give a goofy sigh and collapse onto the couch.

Best. Day. _Ever!_ No question about it.

* * *

Angel was surprised, the next day, to be approached at school by Michelangelo. They had only interacted at school during soccer practise, and that wasn't until tomorrow. Mikey was always (and seemingly only) hanging out with his brothers at school and Angel, who had always been kind of a loner, kept to herself almost entirely. In fact, she had a tendency just to find a corner and sit in it.

So, yeah, it was kind of a surprise to see Mikey walk up to her on his own before school started. It was getting colder, so he was actually bothering to wear a jacket now (boy, he really liked the colour orange) and he had his hands in his pockets. She raised an eyebrow at the smile he was wearing, like he had something to hide but couldn't hold in his excitement about it.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

"I made you something." Mikey withdrew a piece of white material from his pocket and held it out to her. She took it; flipped it over. Green material had been sewn on in the design of a turtle shell and next to that, he had sewn two kanji.

"What – why –" This was a first for Angel. People didn't just _give_ her things. Well, Ryan and her Nana did, but they were family. Sometimes Casey did too, but that didn't count because he was pretty much family, too.

"It's an armband," Mikey said, apparently mistaking her speechlessness for confusion over his gift. "You know how the Purple Dragons and the Foot clan and everyone all have their own armbands and stuff? This one's for the Hamato clan; I'm gonna make one for me and the others, and April too, cos Master Splinter's training her. And I wanted to make one for you cos you're on our side now. Look; that kanji means mad or crazy and the other one means angel. I was just gonna go with the second one, cos it's your name, but I still think you're crazy for wanting to be our spy so –"

Angel was not a fan of hugs.

This was a well established fact. People who had learned this (with the exception of Ryan and her Nana) had learned the hard way. But Mikey was a fan of hugs, and Angel couldn't think of any other way to explain what she was feeling right now. It was like a tiger had unexpectedly attacked her; but in a good way. Her solitude was only in part by choice (kids were brutal; even just dyeing her hair purple had drawn horrid comments, but she was used to ignoring them now) and it felt strangely nice to just be spontaneously _accepted_ into something big like this.

So – _just this once_, she told herself – Angel broke her own rule and gave Mikey a hug. It was hesitant and awkward because she had basically no idea what she was doing, but she'd seen enough television to know she was meant to put her arms around his neck. It wasn't difficult because Mikey wasn't much taller than her. "Thanks," she said quietly.

In theory, that was it: a quick, awkward hug to show Mikey how grateful she was (although she'd never admit it) to him for being such an unnecessarily fantastic friend, and then they'd probably never speak of it again because it was supposed to be kind of weird for two people of the opposite sex who were just friends to hug…

Except that as Angel was letting go of him, Mikey decided to hug her back.

Well, he didn't hug her, exactly. It would've been more accurate to say he wrapped his arms around her torso and _squeezed_, lifting her off the ground slightly. Angel thought she was going to lose her balance and tightened her grip, managing to keep the tension contained in her arms. Mikey probably thought she was just trying to hug him properly.

When he released her, he flashed a huge smile and said, "So you like it?"

"Yeah," Angel said, pocketing the armband. She could feel a smile of her own trying to force its way onto her face in response, and found she wasn't entirely successful in her efforts to restrain it. "I think it's great. See ya' later, okay?"

"Okay, see – wait." The smile dropped off his face so fast Angel thought she could almost hear it land on the ground. "What happened to your arm?"

Uh-oh. Angel had been hoping to avoid this, so she'd worn a long-sleeved jacket, but as she was apparently being an idiot today, she had tied it around her waist… and the shirt she wore underneath it had sleeves which ended an inch or two shy of her wrist.

And she _knew_ Mikey would overreact if he saw the bruises she'd earned on Saturday. She had hoped to hide them when she couldn't avoid him, but she'd forgotten to put the jacket back on.

"It's nothing," she said quickly, trying to pull down the sleeves of her shirt. They stretched toward her wrists a bit, but sprang back into place as soon as she let go. "Seriously Mikey, they're days old. Don't even hurt."

"Are those from that test-y thing on Saturday?" Mikey picked her arm up at the joint between her hand and her wrist, where there weren't any bruises, and pulled her sleeve further up her arm. Apparently he wasn't expecting all the bruises, because his eyes widened and he exclaimed, "_Oh my God!_"

Conscious that unwanted attention was probably being drawn by now, Angel reclaimed her arm and hissed, "I said I'm _fine_. I'll explain later, okay?"

Mikey was about to argue but Angel raised an eyebrow dangerously, so he reluctantly agreed and went to find his brothers. Angel pulled her sleeve back down, but not before sliding the armband he had given her on underneath the shirt. She spent a couple of minutes pulling the armband up to her bicep, where it sat comfortably under her shirt, held in place by a strip of elastic.

Then she sat down and went back to the book she'd been reading.

Half a page later, Angel was approached again; this time by two girls she recognised as the Popular Ones in her grade. The first had dyed-dark hair and the second was one of those snotty girls who had decided to give Angel a hard time when she died her hair purple… and subsequently ended up wishing she hadn't said anything.

Angel kept up her best pokerface and wondered exactly what the hell these two wanted with her. They had gone to the same middle school as she did, so they knew first-hand why bullying Angel was a bad idea. Not only was she tough; everyone from her middle school remembered the first – and only – time Casey Jones had to get personally involved. Especially the second girl.

"Was that Mikey Hamato you were just talking to?" the first girl asked. She sounded more fascinated than snotty, but Angel didn't relax entirely. If these girls were two of Mikey's fangirls, there was a chance (albeit fairly small) that they could go crazy if she wasn't careful.

"Uh – yeah," Angel replied, not bothering to put her book down or stand back up. "Who else would it be?"

"Why's he talking to you?" another girl asked. Angel remembered the _I'm-better-than-you-because-you're-a-bit-different_ voice. The first girl's ponytail almost smacked her in the face as she turned to give the second girl a look which clearly said _Don't be a jerk_.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Angel said. "I didn't realise it was illegal to have friends."

"_You_ have _friends_?"

Angel and the first girl rolled their eyes in irritation.

"Just ignore her," the first girl advised, nodding to the second one. "It's what I do."

"Fair point," Angel said. "Listen, class is gonna start any minute, so could you –?"

"Oh! Sorry," the first girl said. "We just wanted to know how you two know each other."

"Soccer team," Angel shrugged as the bell rang. "I gotta go, okay?"

She grabbed her book, stood and raced off.

_That was weird_, she thought. And it wasn't like she could say she'd know what she was getting into when she'd first approached Mikey. Being fairly isolated, Angel hadn't been aware that the Hamatos were pretty much famous; all she'd seen was a blonde kid a grade above her who was amazing at soccer. And – okay, fine, she'd admit it – was kinda cute.

But that was irrelevant.

Besides, if she was late for Math again she was as good as dead.

* * *

April didn't like Wednesdays. In fact, they sucked. Not just because it meant they were only half way to the weekend, but because April didn't have any classes with Donnie on Wednesdays. And while she _did_ get to see Leo and Raph during Public Speaking, after last night, she _really_ needed to talk to Donnie, so this Wednesday _really_ sucked.

That kiss… God, that had really been something else. April could lie and say she didn't want to do it again, but she'd struggle to make it convincing. Donnie was an amazing person, and while his kissing skills could use a bit of practise, April was more than willing to help him out with that.

Okay, that was it. After school today, April was going to have a private word with Donnie and ask him to be her boyfriend. Not entirely conventional but hey, as long as the results were the same, who really cared?

* * *

They got some free entertainment on the way back, because Mikey dragged Angel along, insisting that they had something they could put on the bruises on her left arm. April would've tried to help, but she was too busy trying not to laugh at Mikey's Overprotective Mode. He was being such a mother hen, and judging by the way Raph, Leo and Donnie were also restraining laughter, it wasn't something he'd done before.

Honestly, April thought it was kind of sweet, but Angel was Not Amused. She protested that she was fine the whole way, ignoring everyone's advice to just go along with it.

"I think it's cute," April said. "You guys are adorable."

"You wanna swap?" Angel asked.

"No thanks." April held up her hand, which was wrapped around Donnie's. "I'm good." Donnie smiled giddily when April gave his hand a small squeeze.

"Can I at least have my arm back?" This was spoken to Mikey, who was holding Angel's right wrist. His grip was firm so she couldn't wriggle away; but it was also delicate, like he was worried about hurting her or causing more bruises.

Mikey shook his head. "If I do, you'll run off!"

Angel continued to try and talk him into letting go of her, but Mikey didn't relent until they reached the dojo. By this point, Angel had given up her verbal attempts at escape and had moved on to trying to squirm free and pry his fingers off her wrist. Obviously it didn't work. She sat in the corner during training, looking sulky, and afterwards, the boys opened the apartment and Mikey went straight to a First Aid kit in the kitchen and asked Leo if he could help fix up the bruises on Angel's arm.

April, on the other hand, tapped Donnie on the shoulder and with a small jerk of her head, indicated that they should go to his lab.

"Is everything alright?" he asked as April shut the door behind them.

"I think you know what I want to talk about," she said softly, not daring to look at him. April had never had this specific talk with someone before and had no idea what she was doing.

"Last night," Donnie said. It wasn't even a guess.

After coming to the conclusion that she was going to do this _today_, April had spent a good deal of the school day planning what to do now; what to say. In the end, she had decided she would look Donnie straight in the eye and say, "I have feelings for you," and then they would decide where to go from here.

But _damn_ Donnie's eyes. Damn those soft, brown, expressive eyes of his. Because as soon as she looked him in the eye, all April managed was, "I like you."

Still, the result was what she'd learned she should expect: her words caused Donnie to blush. April couldn't help but think he looked adorable when he blushed, but she also didn't think he was able to say anything. He might have been trying to, but no words came out.

"So…" April said, throwing everything she had planned to say out the window, "do you remember how on Halloween, I asked if we were together?"

Donnie swallowed; managed to choke out, "Y-yeah?"

"And I said…" she continued, hoping Donnie would take the hint.

"You said you wouldn't mind," he answered automatically. Then the penny dropped; he paused. Blushed again. "O-oh. You mean you – I mean – you'd be okay if –"

April rolled her eyes. Clearly Donnie wasn't going to be able to stammer out what she knew he was trying to say. She exhaled, bracing herself, and took a step towards him. "Yeah," she said, her voice almost silent, "I would."

Next thing she knew, they were kissing again.

* * *

Raph got bored of watching Mikey tend to Angel's arm pretty fast, and decided to 'borrow' a comic book Mikey had left on the couch.

Mikey was aware that he was probably overreacting just a _teensy_ bit, but he never got to overreact with his brothers. And Angel was his friend; his friend who'd been hurt because he couldn't talk her out of being a Purple Dragon… besides, it meant he got to hold her hand. So he got Leo – who hadn't lost interest yet – to help him make up a mixture of oils to put on Angel's bruised arm and then wrapped a layer of dressing around it.

When he was finished, she flexed her arm and said, "Thanks." Mikey was pretty sure she was humouring him, but he didn't care. Actually, he'd been starting to see why Donnie and April liked holding hands so much. It was really nice.

"It's nothin'," he said, waving it off. "Told ya' it was dangerous, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Angel shrugged, "you did. But hey, it's just the one arm. The rest of me is fine."

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief at that. He almost thought he was having a heart attack earlier when he saw the bruises on Angel's arm. Sure, she'd texted on Sunday to tell him about passing the test and going up a rank, but she hadn't mentioned getting hurt. It would've been a nice heads-up: not only would he have made sure she was okay sooner, but discovering bruises all up Angel's arm had overpowered the fact that she'd deliberately hugged him in the same way a pin overpowers a balloon: _I thought she didn't like hugs, but she _hugged_ me. **POP**. Wait, is she hurt?_

Yeah. Not good.

Meanwhile, Leo was explaining to Angel that Mikey was the reason they all knew the best homemade remedies (and quite a lot of professional First Aid) practically by heart. Mikey couldn't tell whether Leo intended to be a wingman or a troll, but whatever Leo's reasoning, Mikey was eternally grateful to him for not mentioning that he was the reason they _needed_ to know all the best homemade remedies so well.

"Okay," Angel said, "I can take a hint. Next time I get hurt I'll come straight to you, alright?"

Mikey froze for a fraction of a second. Was she saying that to calm him down, or because she trusted him to take care of her when she got hurt? A small, hopeful part of his mind suggested that maybe she had liked his playing nurse. But there was no way that would be it.

_Forget it. Change the topic._

"You better. Hey, wanna see Klunk? I bet he misses you!"

"Uh… remind me who that is again?"

"Our cat! Remember!"

Angel's eyebrows raised, eyes slightly wider, and her gaze snapped to Leo, who was smirking. What was so – _oh_. Mikey blushed and mentally smacked his forehead on the kitchen table.

"Uh, I mean _the_ cat. The _stray_ cat. The one you found and I took in."

"Oh – yeah, I remember now. It's been a while."

Was it just Mikey's imagination, or were Angel's cheeks just a shade redder?

Okay, new life goal: make that happen again… but for definite this time. And on purpose.

Mikey's scheming was interrupted by the sound of April taking a picture on her camera phone. She was looking fairly smug. When did she and Donnie get back?

"What's that look for?" Angel asked, suspicion coating her tone.

"_Nu_-thing," April sing-songed, hiding the phone behind her back. "Don't worry about it. Hey, Donnie and me got together."

The resulting storm of congratulations caused everyone to forget about whatever weird motives April might have for taking a picture.

And it didn't turn up in the school paper's gossip section on Friday, so that was kind of good and weird at the same time.


	18. Family

**A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! *sound of party poppers* my resolution is to finally catch that damn roadrunner (and to defeat the Shredder). Also, I go back to college tomorrow so finishing and posting this when I did is pretty good timing**

**Shiego627: Glad you're enjoying it!  
****GuestZ: Awesome, somebody else who ships Mikey and Angel! I've been wondering about the ship name too; no ideas so far though, but your suggestion's pretty good. Mikel, maybe? (Ba-dum-tss) I'm pleased you liked the chapter! Hope you like this one, too!  
****The potatoe one: Yeah, it took them long enough (hence the chapter name). Dammit Mikey, why… and yeah, I love that they made Leo a huge fanboy; it's really fun. Haha, don't worry, you'll find out about the picture soon  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks!  
****Thor-Born: Thanks, happy new year to you, too. I agree; Shredder's always up to something. Movie days are great; we actually always watch a movie together on a Saturday night in my family, and I can't wait for Jurassic World! I kind of want a Turtle Armband now… maybe I should figure out how to make one?  
****Memmek10k: Thank you  
****Juanita27: I'm pleased you're enjoying the story! Those are some interesting ideas, but you'll have to wait and see  
****ljkarai1243: I'm using kind of a cross between the 1987 Shredder and the 2003 Shredder. So he looks like the 1987 Shredder, but has slightly longer hair and the full set of body-armour  
****Myneverever02938: Aw, thanks!**

**Couple of points here: first, you may notice that I glazed over the actual events of Thanksgiving. We don't actually have Thanksgiving in England, so I only know what I've seen on TV  
****Also, lots of Apritello in this chapter, and more made-up relatives… apart from one, who is canon to the 2003 series  
****I'm (sort of) not entirely sorry to tell you that **_**How to Keep Dinosaurs**_** is a real book, of which I own a copy. I was struggling for ideas, sorry**

**Also, in addition to this story, I'm working on four TMNT one-shots, which I'll post after I hit chapter 20. There'll be one for each pairing in this story, and each will be set within a different TMNT universe. I've got the basic plots for two of them so far, so it's just a matter of writing them up**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Family**

_Put your faith in what you most believe in  
__Two worlds, one family  
__Trust your heart  
__Let fate decide  
__To guide these lives we see  
__~ Two Worlds_ from _Tarzan_

April wasn't looking forward to the next newspaper club meeting. Vern was convinced there was something wrong with the Hamato brothers; something April knew and wasn't telling. Sure, he was right there, but it irritated April. And he wasn't pleased with her anyway, because she'd announced she was dropping her idea to interview the guys.

The rest of the club had been understanding – they were somewhat disappointed, but they got that privacy between friends was more important – but Vern was more interested in how popular the interview would be among the rest of the school. He didn't want to let the idea go, and April was pretty sure he'd be threatening to kick her off the newspaper club soon if she didn't come up with something better.

It was actually Raph's idea that saved her, for the day after she and Donnie got together at least, although Leo claimed the credit. He said he came up with it on the first day of the school year.

"You should go along to those meetings, too," Raph said, as they walked to school and April voiced her complaints about Vern. "Y'know, protect your girlfriend from that creep."

She didn't know if she'd expected Donnie to actually go through with it, but he said he would during AP Chemistry, so really, it shouldn't have been a surprise to walk into the room and find Donnie already in there, waiting for her. A strong sense of déjà vu swept over her when she caught herself stopping momentarily to stare at the only other occupant of the room, and she couldn't quite pinpoint where the familiarity came from.

It took another moment or two to realise she was having flashbacks to the first day of school; to the first time she'd set eyes on any of the Hamato brothers up close. Raph and Leo had been the first into Public Speaking, just like Donnie was with this meeting.

Coming to this conclusion and knowing the reason the brothers always made it into the room first probably involved the word _ninja_, April shrugged it off and approached Donnie. Without getting up, he slid out the seat next to him for her to sit in. She found it entertained her that he was acting like a gentleman and, at the same time, being completely casual about it.

Others began to walk in, pause when they spotted him, then continue into the room and take their seats. April wondered if this was how the first few days of school had been for _all_ the Turtles.

"How long were you in here?" April asked.

"Not too long. You didn't wait outside for me, did you?" Donnie teased.

"I know you a _bit_ better than that."

Donnie was drawing on a notepad, sketching what appeared to be a spy van. There were paint job designs, interior designs and what April thought were possible add-ons. He had been working on these sketches at lunch and during their shared Science class, but when questioned, he'd said that anybody who wanted to know had to either wait and see, or guess.

"That's the van you want to work on, isn't it?" April said, suddenly realising what it was.

"Yeah," Donnie replied, with a small, proud smile. "Don't try to name it, though. Mikey's sort of taken that on as his unofficial job over the years. If anyone else tries…" he grimaced overdramatically, but April knew what he meant.

"It looks like the concept art for a spy movie," she pointed out. "It's pretty good; maybe you should think about getting into that."

"Maybe," Donnie said, "but I'd rather put my brain to use in the scientific field."

That was part of why April was so glad the guys could turn into humans. Mikey was a social creature at heart, Leo could probably do with a place he could go and just geek out (a nerd convention, for example), Raph needed a way to vent all his pent-up hot-headedness and Donnie was probably going to become a world-renowned scientist. All those things would've been made a lot more difficult if the guys were forced to hide in the sewers full-time.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she joked.

"There's probably any number of reasons. Besides, Mikey's our resident artist. I just do blueprints, really."

"What about the others? I bet Leo's into speech-writing."

"And fanfiction." Donnie hid the statement with a fake cough. "He's not too bad."

April wasn't totally surprised. "What about Raph?" she asked.

Donnie's hand halted over the page of his notepad, hovering half an inch in the air as he decided whether or not to answer. Finally, he checked to make sure nobody was paying attention – the others were all conversing with one another – and said quietly, "Promise you won't let him find out it was me who told you this. I don't plan to die for at least another seventy years."

"Scouts' honour."

"You're not a scout."

"Secret-keepers' honour then." Leo had joked about her being their secret-keeper when she lent him her copies of _Harry Potter_.

"Raph isn't into writing and drawing and stuff," Donnie said, speaking in the lowest possible voice which she would still be able to hear. "He's actually more of a… Disney princess."

April blinked. "What?"

"Yeah, it's weird. Animals just seem to… like him. Especially pigeons. I swear he can talk to them or something."

There was a brief pause in the conversation. "What the f–"

That was when Vern walked in.

His pause was the longest. The eyes of everyone in the room shot between Vern and Donnie as though they could actually see the odd, unspoken tension between the two. He hid it well enough but, for whatever reason, it was obvious that Vern didn't like Donnie much.

Donnie, on the other hand, gave a friendly smile, but April somehow knew he was doing it to bug Vern. She had a headache coming on, though, so she tried not to think too hard about it.

"Donnie wanted to sit in on a meeting," she said, deliberately breaking the awkward silence before it consumed the room for too long.

Vern nodded and began the meeting by calling off a list of members to make sure everyone was there.

Anybody who didn't know him better would have thought Donnie was bored throughout the meeting, because he went back to his sketching (under the table this time) as soon as it began. April, however, _did_ know him better, so she could tell he was listening. Somehow the sketching seemed to help him focus.

Personally, April thought it was kind of boring, but Donnie seemed to find something in what was happening which interested him, so at least one of them didn't have to make an effort not to yawn. For a while she entertained herself with the fact that she could see what he was drawing in the reflection of his glasses. Finally, something good about them. April really, really hated those glasses.

As the meeting ended, Vern once again asked April to hang back, and she reluctantly agreed. Donnie packed away his notepad but didn't leave her side.

"You can go," Vern told him. "I just need to talk to O'Neil a minute."

Donnie paused for a second, drawing himself up to his full height. She had never thought of him as intimidating – heck, even when she first saw his turtle form it was the shock which had gotten to her; the fact that she had no idea what was going on – but apparently Vern disagreed. It must've been something Splinter had taught the guys, but Donnie's silent defiance seemed to be making Vern uncomfortable: he squirmed for what felt like a minute before Donnie left the room without a word and waited just outside the door.

"I don't know why you brought him here," Vern said, nodding in the direction of the door, "but I don't trust him. I think he's hiding something."

"Everyone has a secret," April reasoned. "Even _you_, Vern."

"Well, be careful, O'Neil. I'm pretty confident it's a _big_ secret."

_No kidding_. April left without another word. She latched onto Donnie's hand as she left the room, feeling irritated.

"I don't think he liked me very much," Donnie said casually.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" April teased. "He thinks you've got some big secret you're not telling me."

"Oh, I do. Absolutely."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Every full moon I undergo a secondary mutation and turn into a horrible monster. Don't even recognise my own brothers." He smirked. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

April shook her head, grinning. "You're such a goofball. What did you _do_ to Vern, anyway? I've never seen him squirm like that."

"Just a trick sensei taught us," Donnie shrugged, still smirking. "Normally we're supposed to use it against bad guys, like the Purple Dragons – some of them can be wimps and we might be able to avoid a fight – but I thought it might come in useful."

"You guys and your ninjitsu techniques," April joked, shaking her head.

"I'm sure he'll teach you soon too, if you ask him nicely."

April was pleased to note that while Donnie seemed to have grown used to holding her hand, he hadn't altered his behaviour since yesterday… unless you counted the fact that he had been stammering less around her. He was growing more confident around her.

Donnie gave April's hand a squeeze and she grinned, tightening her grip.

* * *

Last school year, on April Fools' Day, Angel Bridge had done an extreme cruelty to Casey Jones. God alone knew how she had rigged it up, especially without his knowing (his mom had probably been bribed into helping her), but after taking his morning shower, he discovered he would have to either wear a hat all day – none of which he owned, just for the record, and Angel knew it – or walk around with bubblegum-pink hair.

So, in response (and a fit of rage) he had put a price on her head: whoever could provide him with physical, indisputable evidence (a photograph, for example) that Angel Bridge had the ability to blush, would earn themselves fifty bucks and a reputation as a God Among Men. So far nobody had achieved this.

At least, they didn't until the day April went to visit her family for Thanksgiving.

Casey had swung by her apartment for three reasons: one, he wanted to wish her good luck with the family; two, she had asked him to swing by; and three, Donatello wanted to start work on the van Casey and Raph had finally found for him. Once again, Donnie had agreed to pay for the loan of Casey's garage by helping out with a new car, considering the Plymouth had officially been sold.

More importantly, it had sold for more than Casey had expected, so he decided to treat himself with the spare cash. There were a hundred dollars weighing down his wallet right now.

Raph was due to join Casey and Donnie at the garage later, but it was currently ten in the morning and the numbskull apparently hadn't had enough sleep last night or something.

Casey had turned up too late to see April introduce her father to Donnie, but the two were talking animatedly about some highly advanced thing to do with science that even seemed kind of lost on April, so that was probably a good thing.

When April spotted Casey, she marched up to him and announced, "You owe me fifty bucks."

"How do you figure that?"

April didn't say anything; just retrieved her cell phone from her pocket and presented Casey with a photo. He blinked, trying to take in what he was seeing; then he snatched the phone off her, zooming in and holding it at different angles and doing everything he could think of to check for signs of editing.

He turned nothing up. It was real.

_Son of a bitch._

The photo showed Angel, sitting at what appeared to be a kitchen table with one arm wrapped in gauze or something, and shooting a surprised look at someone Casey couldn't see. She seemed to have been caught off-guard by something. And it was ridiculously faint, but she was _definitely_ blushing.

"How'd you make that happen?" Casey demanded, handing the phone back and fishing in his pocket for his wallet.

"Trade secret," April winked, pocketing her phone and holding out an expectant hand for the cash.

Casey rolled his eyes and counted out fifty dollars. "You're lucky I sold a car recently," he commented.

"Congratulations," April said, pocketing the money. She said goodbye to Casey, kissed Donnie goodbye and climbed into the passenger seat of her dad's old party wagon.

"So," Casey said as he and Donnie headed away, "you really wanna be driving a van around? Not gonna pick out a hot car to impress your girlfriend with?"

"I like vans," Donnie shrugged. He was carrying a sketchbook which appeared to be full of ideas for his new van. "Anyway, it'll make it easier for my brothers and me when we're all in the vehicle at once."

"That dead weight thing?" Casey asked.

There was a pause. Then, "More like, Mikey likes to take up the whole back seat."

They arrived at Casey's garage pretty quickly and Donnie gave a low whistle when he saw the van.

"Nice."

"I know," Casey agreed. "The car could use some TLC, though."

Donnie glanced at the pile of rust sitting in the corner and recoiled in horror, realising what Casey had said was a _huge_ understatement. "That's a _car_? Why would somebody let it get to that condition?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." Casey clapped Donatello on the back. "C'mon, Armpit. This is gonna take a while."

As they advanced towards the car, Donnie said, "Armpit? What, are we playing ABC Insults now?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Got anything to get rid of all that rust, Barfaroni?"

"Sure do, Camel-breath."

* * *

A few hours and a lunch at a roadside _Denny's_ later, the hippie bus pulled up outside Auntie Jean's place. It wasn't exactly the farmhouse April had spent her earlier years in, and occasionally the summer too, but it was still a nice house large enough to hold them all. Auntie Jean, a plump woman with hair lighter than Kirby's, stood on the porch with April's three cousins.

Brooke, as always, looked extremely pretty. Albeit bored stiff, she looked the epitome of fashion in her all-designer outfit, which was comprised of a short-skirted dress, killer heels and a fashion scarf, with her long, strawberry-blonde hair crimped and this month's hottest phone in her hand. She didn't even bother to look up at them.

Lily had changed since April last saw her. Last time April checked, her younger cousin was into Disney princesses. In fact, during April's last visit, the only time Lily didn't wear her Cinderella dress was when she was in her pyjamas or being made to take a bath. Now, though, she wore a _Frozen_ sweater, jeans and a pair of yellow swamper boots; and her hair had been cut right up to her ears. Auntie Jean would later explain that Lily's new hero was _Coraline_.

Baby Tommy, the family's little adoptee, wrapped in a light blue babygrow, was handed over to Brooke as Auntie Jean came to hug April and Kirby and invited them in.

The house was cozy inside – it definitely belonged to a family of four – and Auntie Jean switched the television off so they could talk. The place still seemed strange without Uncle Augie, but it had been years. He'd gone missing just after April's eleventh birthday. He always had a tendency to take off exploring of his own, so nobody got suspicious until he had gone longer than usual without checking in.

Still, life went on. Auntie Jean took Baby Tommy back from Brooke and settled onto the couch next to April's dad, Brooke decided to take up an entire armchair and April and Lily sat on the other couch.

"Brooke, will you get off your phone and talk to us?" Auntie Jean asked. She turned to April and Kirby and said apologetically, "All she does lately is text her boyfriend."

"I know that feeling," April's dad joked, looking directly at his daughter. She shot him a mocking _How dare you_ type of look.

Brooke's texting paused for a second. That reminded April; she'd promised she'd text Donnie when she got there and let him know she'd arrived okay. She pulled her own cell phone out of her pocket to text him just as Auntie Jean realised what her brother had just said and demanded to know everything. How old was she again?

April had been over all this with her dad on the drive. She'd glazed over the parts involving the words _mutant_, _ninja_ or _turtle_, but the rest of it was more-or-less accurate.

"We're lab partners in AP Science," April explained, briefly glancing up from her text. "His name's Donnie. We just got together this week."

"Won't being friends first make it kind of awkward when you break up?" Brooke asked, having finally put her phone down.

"_If_," April corrected automatically; then she paused, wondering where the sudden defensiveness had come from. She shrugged it off and sent her text to Donnie. "Anyway, studies show that couples who were friends first, are likely to stay together the longest."

"Have you met April's boyfriend yet, Kirby?" Auntie Jean asked.

"Yeah," April's dad said. "He's nice; kind of shy at first, but friendly. Absolute genius. The kid could get a PhD right now if he wanted one."

April had thought so, too. In fact, she was pretty confident Donnie would be contacted by at least _one_ high-profile college in the near future. She'd asked a while back him why he didn't go straight for an online degree and get out into a science lab right away. His answer should, really, have been obvious to her.

_"I shouldn't even have the opportunity to do all the things I can: go to school as an ordinary human being; get a job you don't just do from home; go to college; have a girlfriend and take her on dates out in public. But I do have that opportunity. So I'm going to take it."_

"Got a picture?" Brooke asked. She didn't say it, but April was confident Brooke thought he would look like a stereotypical geek.

As it so happened, however, April had a photo on her phone that was going to make Brooke think twice about judging someone instantly based on their intelligence.

Personally, it was one of April's favourite photos of Donnie anyway, mostly because he didn't have those stupid glasses on.

She'd taken this particular photo just before afternoon training started. Donnie was meant to be looking at the camera and just giving a nice smile, but Mikey had said something funny and Donnie had started laughing. April liked the photo better for that; it looked more natural now.

In the picture, Donnie was wearing a thick brown belt, which attached to a harness that ran over his right shoulder and held his bo staff on his back. His mask still sat on his forehead like a headband, his hair was tied back and his laugh was showing off that cute gap between his teeth. All of this was without mentioning that the skin-tight green shirt he wore was showing off the muscles he normally hid while in his human form.

"Not bad," Brooke said appraisingly. "The long hair makes him look kind of like a hippie, though."

"He likes it long," April said defensively, as her dad frowned. Kirby O'Neil had been a hippie at one point in his youth. "I do too."

"Oh, be nice, Brooke," Auntie Jean scolded gently. "It's not like your boyfriend's fashion choices are any better; he looks like a character from _Grease_. Anyway April, tell us some more about – what was his name again, Kirb?"

"Donnie."

"Right, right. Tell us some more about Donnie."

April returned her phone to her pocket and asked, "Like what?"

"Like – what's the rest of his family like?" Auntie Jean asked. Straight for the big guns. Couldn't she ask something a bit simpler first?

"They're great," April said. "He's got three brothers, and his dad runs a martial arts dojo. They're all just…" she struggled for a single word to sum it up – "amazing people."

"And his mother?" Auntie Jean pressed.

April shook her head. "Splinter – that's his dad – had a wife when he lived in Japan, but she was… she died. He came to America and adopted Donnie and his brothers."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Auntie Jean said, as sympathetic as though she was talking to Splinter himself.

"Well, they're happy," April said, "and that's the main thing." She didn't mention that Mikey probably wouldn't mind having a mom. There was a small chance Auntie Jean would want to meddle with Splinter's love life, too.

"Oh – well, that's good. You said their father runs a dojo?"

"Yeah. I go with the guys to train with him after school."

"And what do they do; Donnie and his brothers?"

April paused for a second. "Well, Leo's the oldest, so he's kind of the leader. Raph's the second-oldest; he's on the hockey team, and he helps Casey Jones fix cars. Mikey – he's the youngest – is on the school soccer team. And Donnie… is a genius. I've seen him build a computer in less than a day using spare parts, then design programs for it from scratch. He takes old machines from the junk yard, things that haven't worked for years, and fixes them for fun."

"That's _fun_?" Brooke scoffed.

"But at the end of the day," April finished, ignoring Brooke, "and I know this sounds cheesy; the main thing is, they're fiercely loyal. Family always comes first."

"That's wonderful," Auntie Jean said. "But April, honey, does this boy treat you well?"

"Absolutely," April said. It was hard to find the right words to explain how Donatello treated her. Their dynamic was almost the same as it had been before they got together, but something within Donnie had changed. He was less afraid to be forward with her. He would take her hand when they walked together; initiate hugs; he had even asked _her_ if she wanted to go see a movie, or hang out after school without the others.

The only problem April had was that he had only ever initiated a kiss once: that first time, outside her apartment building, at the start of the month. Maybe he just needed to build up to that.

"Brooke, why don't you go into town with April and Lily for a bit?" Auntie Jean suggested. Brooke moved, albeit reluctantly, and the three girls headed out. Jean turned to her brother. "So, what do _you_ think of April's boyfriend?" she asked.

"I like him," Kirby said. "You can tell he cares about her just by looking at him. And she's been less stressed out over school lately. I think he's good for her."

"I certainly hope so. After her mother died… and you know how close April was with Augie."

Kirby was saddened for a second. He still missed his wife sometimes; and he, too, had been close to Augie. He spoke quietly. "I know, Jean. But I get the feeling Donnie will be around for a long time."

"I hope so. She deserves someone in her life who can look after her."

Kirby gave a fake cough.

"Someone who isn't her father, I mean," Jean corrected.

"Everyone deserves that," Kirby shrugged.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Brooke asked, as April hung back to check in a shop window.

"Looking," April said simply. It wasn't exactly a _big_ town her aunt and cousins lived in, but it was big enough to have a few decent shops. And she'd promised herself she'd get something for each of the guys, who'd never been out of NYC before.

Why else would she have timed claiming her reward from Casey the way she did? She had about seventy bucks to spend now.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"I thought I'd get something for my friends," April shrugged.

How much trouble would she be in if she got Raph that stuffed pigeon toy? Then again, the others would protect her…

* * *

Thanksgiving was as one might expect. April's dad and Auntie Jean got up early to start making the Thanksgiving dinner; Brooke tried to kick up a fuss because Auntie Jean wouldn't let her boyfriend join them; Lily roped April into watching _Coraline_ with her. Typical family stuff.

April had agreed to text Donnie once a night while she was away, to let him know she was alright. In return, he would keep her updated on how things were going in New York. So far an entire folder or files had been decoded; something to do with snakes.

On Thanksgiving night, however, the text April received was not from Donnie. It was from Splinter, who had borrowed Donnie's t-Phone to inform her that the boys had gone into food comas, so unfortunately Donnie wouldn't be able to text her tonight. April replied that it was fine, and thanks for letting her know.

* * *

The family had been significantly more tolerable this year, and April was even looking forward to the next time she had to visit them, but she was still pleased to get home. She had missed having her own room all to herself; but more than that, she had missed only having to fight one person for use of the shower. In fact, as soon as she had dumped her suitcase on her bed, she hopped into the shower.

When she was done, she dressed, grabbed up her messenger satchel and raced off to the Turtles' place.

Splinter had allowed April to keep the key she had used to sneak into the guys' place on their mutation day, so she let herself in, entering the apartment as quietly as possible. Klunk was the first to notice April's presence and he came racing up to greet her, followed by Mikey (who had a habit of greeting people with hugs), and after he let her go, Donnie was at her side. April had already kissed him before it registered that he was in his turtle form.

April had never kissed Donnie in his turtle form before. Hugged him, yes, but never _kissed_.

This wasn't how she'd intended for it to go when she first kissed him in his turtle form. Sure, he hadn't really given her the opportunity before – she had tried to read his expression, to figure out _why_, but she only ever ended up with a headache and the vague idea that he was afraid she might not like it; might reject him – but it wasn't supposed to be _just_ because she'd missed him. She'd wanted it to be more special than that.

But this was how it happened.

Kissing Donnie while he was a turtle was… _different_. Not different in a particularly bad way, but it was kind of strange. His lips were smaller, less noticeable, and his skin was harder; thicker; smoother. She felt him freeze in surprise, like he did the first time she kissed him. Finally she felt his mouth pull into a small smile before, albeit briefly, he kissed her back. And when he did, the same tiny spark was there as had been present every other time they had kissed; the spark that told her this was _definitely_ Hamato Donatello.

It would take some getting used to, April decided, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant.

"Missed you," she said as the kiss ended.

"Missed you too," Donnie said quietly. April tried to figure out what he was thinking. She concluded two things: he was surprised she had willingly kissed him, even though he was in his turtle form; and she needed an aspirin. Or she would soon, if she couldn't distract herself from the headache that was suddenly coming on.

"Good," she told him. Then she said, louder and to the others, she said, "I got you guys some presents while I was away. Where's Master Splinter?" She had found an ornate teacup in an antique store, something which appeared to come from Japan, that she couldn't resist getting for him.

"_Presents_?" Michelangelo was immediately at her side.

"Master Splinter's out grocery shopping," Leo said. "Did you enjoy your trip?"

"That depends what you mean by 'enjoy'," April said, placing her bag on the kitchen table.

"You know, you didn't have to get us anything," Donnie told her.

"I wanted to," April shrugged. "Catch, Leo."

She reached into the bag, tossed a _Space Heroes_ coffee mug over the island counter and watched Leonardo's eyes light up when he caught it.

"That cost me fifteen bucks and I'm not getting you another one if you break it."

"Where did you _find_ this?"

"Didja get me something?" Mikey asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement.

"Would I dare leave you out?" April asked rhetorically. One could only _imagine_ the horrors of accidentally forgetting to get something for Mikey. She reached into the bag and retrieved a wooden box containing proper artists' pens, pencils, paper and paints. "Don't go painting anything on the ceiling, Michelangelo," she warned jokingly.

Next she turned to Donnie. It had been difficult to find something for him, because what can you buy a techno-wizard for under fifteen bucks? And it had to be good, because he was her boyfriend, but she didn't want any grossly mushy couple stuff. Out of desperation, she had almost gone for a science-themed photo frame, which she would have put a picture of the two of them in, but then she spotted a book.

She knew Donatello liked dinosaurs. Going through the cardboard boxes in his room – that reminded her, there were still a couple left – she had discovered a folder of newspaper and magazine clippings covering stories about dinosaurs; a number of severely worn copies of both _Jurassic Park_ books, as well as _The Lost World_; and even one or two non-fictional books about dinosaurs. There was a photo in one of the albums – she and Mikey had secretly finished going through the Hamato family photo albums at one point while Leo and Donnie were out on patrol – from a time when Splinter had managed to take the boys to the Natural History Museum. Donnie's favourite part had been the dinosaur exhibit.

It was a weird concept, but April had found a book entitled _How to Keep Dinosaurs_.

Taking the book from her and flipping through it, Donnie asked, "What even is this?" He looked like he wanted to laugh, but didn't quite know what to make of the book.

"I'm not sure," April confessed, "but I thought you might get a laugh out of it."

"Why am I scared to ask what you got me?" Raph asked from the couch. April didn't answer; just threw the stuffed toy pigeon over to him. He raised an eyebrow at it, but his expression said he'd been expecting something worse.

"It was that or a tiara," April said.

The look he gave her told her the toy pigeon was _definitely_ the safe option.


	19. Another (Pairing) Bites the Dust

**A/N: this is great; we're nearly on chapter twenty**

**Mistystar123: Thanks! I had to stop reading that book for a while because I couldn't stop laughing to be honest. I'm looking forward to posting the one-shots  
****Miceaholic: Thanks for the review!  
****Cracknovelist: Thanks; I try to put in some smart jokes from time to time. Glad you're enjoying the story!  
****Memmek10k: Thanks and you're welcome!  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks, I will!  
****Thor-Born: I'm glad I'm doing humour right. Yeah, it's weird to have some relatively normal people… I'm pleased you liked the ABC Insults reference  
****The potatoe one: I'm glad I managed to make you laugh right when you really needed it. I'm also glad you enjoyed this chapter; it was really fun to write  
****UnicornsAreReal1: I love that about TMNT as well! Thanks, I plan to keep going with this  
****GuestZ: Yes, Raph is a 'lovely' princess. Brooke might reappear or she might just get mentioned from time to time; she was just created out of convenience so I haven't decided yet. I'm glad you liked the chapter!  
****Leomybestie1432: Aww, thanks so much!**

**The 'sleepover' part of this chapter was originally meant to be a separate TMNT one-shot (not one of the ones I'm writing after we hit Chapter Twenty) but I couldn't decide on a series or movie to set it in, so I figured I might as well bring it into this story. It's inspired heavily by a scene from Diana Wynne Jones's **_**Deep Secret**_**, and uses some dialogue from that scene**

**Also, I have some college deadlines coming up so updates will possibly be kind of slow until the end of January (sorry about that). To make up for it, more Apritello and some RaphxJoy in this one**

**Oh, and does anybody mind giving me some help? I know the basic plots of the one-shots I was going to write but I need to decide which universe to set them in. Specifically the MikeyxAngel one, because I've got two ideas I really like and can't choose between. The first would be set in the 1987 series and Angel would be a part of Bebop and Rocksteady's old gang, and they 'hire' her to take the Turtles out. The last one would be based in the 2012 series and Mikey would take Angel back to the lair to look after when she gets hurt. I had a third one set in SAINW but I wanted to do that another time. If anybody bothered reading through all that, I'd love your opinion on which one's best**

**Lyrics today are aimed at the MikeyxAngel pairing**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Another (Pairing) Bites the Dust**

_Hey_  
_I'm gonna get you too_  
_Another one bites the dust_  
~ _Another One Bites the Dust_ by Queen

It took until the beginning of December to clear all the cardboard boxes out of Donnie's room. Having promised Raph she would – she needed, he claimed, to know exactly why they allowed Donnie not to sleep in his own room – April brought her overnight bag that Friday.

Mikey, of course, was over the moon about the idea of a sleepover. He was disappointed when he learned it wouldn't be a proper sleepover; they'd all be in their own rooms, with the exception of April, who was going to sleep on the couch. She had volunteered to take the couch; after all, it was just for the night. Donnie had almost volunteered to take the couch himself and let her sleep in his room, but April was not taking any excuses. He was going to sleep in his own room tonight.

_Or else_.

"Dude!" Mikey exclaimed when April arrived (she had showered at home and grabbed her overnight bag). "We should _so_ watch movies and eat ice cream and pizza later."

"Absolutely," April agreed. The guys were all in their turtle forms, Raph, Leo and Mikey preparing to leave. It was Raph and Mikey's turn to go out on patrol, after all. "And where exactly are _you_ going?" she asked Leo.

"I'm heading out to see Karai," he said. "We've got school work to do. There's only a couple more weeks left before we have to give those productions for Drama; it's an emergency."

"Sounds like a really fun date," April teased. "Enjoy yourselves."

She knew he was telling the truth, of course. She'd managed to sedate Vern's insistence on an interview with the Hamato brothers by promising she'd cover the Drama productions _and_ having a short interview with each of the students, including Leo. Just _arranging_ the whole thing was a pain in the butt.

On the other hand, she'd managed to get front-row seats for the productions, so she'd at least have a good view. And the Drama students all liked her now, because they'd talked to their teacher, and April and the teacher had agreed that as long as they gave her a list of subjects they wanted her to mention, they were allowed to use her article as part of their coursework, meaning less work for them.

Just before Mikey and Raph left for patrol, Mikey handed April a white armband with a green turtle-shell design and a black kanji sewn on.

"This one's yours," he said. "The kanji means hogosha, which is like a guardian, cos I don't know the one for secret-keeper."

April smiled and gave Mikey a small hug of thanks. "When are you guys getting one?"

"When I've made 'em all," Mikey shrugged. "See ya' later. Don't watch any movies without me and don't eat my pizza!"

He and Raph left for patrol and April sat down on the couch, sliding on her armband and patting the seat next to her, indicating for Donnie to join her.

"What d'you wanna do?" he asked, sitting down, wrapping one arm around April shoulders and pressing a gentle kiss to her temple. She crinkled her nose and blushed a little. God, she loved it when he did that.

"We could still put a movie on," April suggested, "but we'd have to make sure it ends before the guys get back so Mikey doesn't kill us." She leaned her head against his shoulder, reaching one hand up to play with the tails of his mask. It wasn't the best substitute for his hair, but it would do while he was in his turtle form.

"Fair point," Donnie agreed. "What about tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure, but aren't you supposed to keep working on your van with Casey?"

"Not until the afternoon," Donnie said. "That gives us a fair amount of time to do something together. Lunch, maybe? And you can always come along to work on the van with me, if you want."

"That sounds like a good plan to me." April would only admit it in secret, even now, but she _loved_ watching Donnie work on vehicles. It was just… fascinating to watch. He seemed to always know exactly what he was doing and truth be told, yes, April _did_ enjoy watching his muscles work.

And now that Donnie was her boyfriend, she didn't even have to be subtle about it anymore. Yes; getting together with Donatello had been a _very_ good decision.

"I read that book you got me, by the way."

"Yeah?"

"Just for the record, I still think it's kind of weird. And I should never have let Mikey borrow it; he's trying to convince me to 'do that thing they did in _Jurassic Park_' and make him a pet dinosaur." Donnie's impression of Mikey made April giggle a bit. It sounded kind of like a surfer. Or the sea turtle from _Finding Nemo_.

"And I bought the book for you, so it's my fault," she grinned. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Donnie shrugged. "I'm the idiot who let him borrow it."

"Except that you're not an idiot," April pointed out. "You're smarter than a lot of adults… and I still think you could get a degree already."

Donnie smiled proudly, his ego somewhat inflated. "If I had a dollar for every time I got told that," he chuckled. "I've had a couple of teachers try to convince me, too. I think they just don't like that I'm smarter than them."

"And _so_ modest," April joked.

"I know, right?" Donnie joked back. "But –"

"I know; you want to do things the long way because you can." April leaned against Donnie's shoulder. "Did you ever think about doing a correspondence degree? Y'know; one you do through the mail or online?"

Donnie paused, giving her words some thought. "It's not a bad idea," he said slowly. "I'd probably be able to take my pick of colleges. And I think I _definitely_ would go for it if I wasn't able to turn human. Maybe another time, though. We have enough to worry about as it is, this year."

That was very true. Files to decode; enemies to fight; a van to work on; a secret to keep; high school crap on top of all of that… it wasn't worth adding any extra pressure when that pressure wasn't necessary. At least, not until things settled back down to their standard of normal.

"I guess we do," April said, curling up against Donnie's side. Training had them both beat, although Donnie was concealing it pretty well, and she planned to take a nap before Mikey returned and probably tried to see how late they could get away with staying up.

* * *

The next morning, April discovered why the guys let Donnie go to sleep when and wherever he wanted, as opposed to what could be considered normal times and places. She also discovered that when the guys said he was '_out of it_' on a morning, they were making a _huge_ understatement.

She, Leo and Raph tried to wake him up, but nothing happened until Michelangelo bounded into the room and sat (rather forcefully) on Donnie's plastron. Donnie let out an "_Oof_" and a waking-up moan, but even when he stood up, his eyes didn't seem to be open. April was surprised he could see to stumble his way downstairs. In fact, apparently smelling the breakfast Mikey had already begun cooking, Donnie totally ignored everyone as we made his way to the kitchen, where Leo forced him into a chair and he almost fell asleep again.

And April had thought _Raph_ was a zombie in the morning. She realised now that she had been mistaken, because if Raph was a zombie in the morning, technically Donnie shouldn't even be _alive_ right now.

April stood behind Donnie with her hands on the back of his chair and watched as Raph smacked Leo's hand away from the toaster and worked it himself, and Mikey continued with the fry-up he was making for breakfast… which, just for the record, smelled _great_. Mikey was apparently the culinary expert of the group, too, despite the fact that he sometimes went overboard when experimenting with recipes.

That was why Raph had bought Mikey a cookbook for their mutation day and scribbled '_How to make EDIBLE food_' over the title in red permanent marker, after all.

"Don't let him touch anything," Leo instructed, indicating to Donnie.

"Like you in the kitchen," Raph grumbled. April had been told about the time Leo set the toaster on fire.

"Why not?" April asked. Donnie seemed to stir from his mostly-asleep state when he caught the smell and sound of bacon being fried.

"Let's just say, D. has trouble doin' anything before his coffee," Mikey said. Then he paused and added, "Or a lot of breakfast."

"His brain takes time to wake up properly," Raph agreed, making the coffee Mikey had mentioned. "If anything's on the table, he'll think it's food. One time he ate the paper."

April tried not to, but she couldn't help letting out a snort of laughter. "You're joking, right?"

The looks on Mikey, Leo and Raph's faces told her Raph had _not_ been joking. And April really didn't know how to feel about that.

"Oh, hey, you guys remember the time we made a second breakfast for him to see what happened?" Mikey chirped up.

"Wait, what?"

Donnie mumbled something which sounded like _eye nose cosdin lybins_. April looked to the others for translation.

"He realised what we did when he discovered he was eating beans for the second time," Leo explained.

"Did you ever try letting him make his own breakfast?" April patted Donnie's shoulder. It came as a surprise when he didn't react.

"Once," Raph said. A smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth.

April was almost scared to ask, but at this point she really couldn't help herself. "What happened?" she asked slowly; cautiously.

Raph shrugged. "He put butter on the plate and tried to eat it."

* * *

"Okay," April said, while she and Donnie were arriving at the place she had recommended for lunch, "I'm sorry for making you sleep in your own room and at a normal time."

Donnie, still shaking off some of the grogginess, said, "It's fine. I just can't believe the guys told you all those stories. They're kind of embarrassing."

April smirked. "I honestly thought you were too out of it to hear any of that."

"I caught the tail-end of the plate story. They always tell those stories together at the same time."

"Ah."

April led Donnie to a cafe he hadn't been in before. It wasn't particularly big, but it had a nice atmosphere, so as instructed, he got a two-person table in the window while April went to the counter with ten dollars Donnie had given her, having insisted she use his money to pay.

Donnie's mind had finished waking up just before ten o'clock. In that time, April had managed to change, drop her overnight bag off at home, shower and return. He didn't know if that was impressive or not, considering he'd been so out of it he didn't know what time he was woken up, but he was glad she was back. It was like when she'd kissed him in his turtle form for the first time. He was so relieved she didn't mind, he didn't even know how he wanted to react. It was just so wonderful that an amazing person like April would _truly_ care for –

"Here."

April had returned. She placed on the table his change, along with two snack-sized pizzas.

"What are these?" he asked.

"Basically, it's pizza on half a bagel. It's cheap, it's good, it's filling and it leaves room for dinner later."

"I like the sound of that. You're a genius."

"I know," April grinned. Donnie's heart fluttered a little when he saw her smile. It always did.

* * *

When they arrived at Casey's garage, a minor racket was emanating from it. As it turned out, this was caused by the playlist he had up on his laptop, which sat charging against one wall. Donnie turned the volume down so they wouldn't have to shout over the din of the music.

"So this is the famous spy-van?" April asked.

"It will be when I'm done with it," Donnie said. He indicated Casey's legs, which were sticking out from under the car he was working on. "And there's the piece of mechanical garbage. And a car."

"Ha ha," came Casey's voice, from under the main body of the car. "Come up with that one by yourself, Hose-Brain?"

"Yeah, actually. And I was starting with 'M', for mechanical."

"Alright, alright. Geez, I'm sorry, Numbskull."

Realising Casey wasn't aware of her presence, April withheld a small snort of laughter at his tone. She almost wanted to see how long she could keep this going.

Donnie checked the inside of the van, strolled up to Casey's legs and kicked him in the ankle. "Hey Orc-face, what did you do with my tool kit?"

Casey swore. "Sorry Pie-brain. I needed it earlier. It's inside the car."

April looked over at the car itself and realised had a choice: keep the he-doesn't-know-I'm-here joke going, or make a snarky comment. She chose the latter. "Are you sure the doors aren't rusted shut?"

There was a crash indicative of a head meeting machinery, which resonated from the car's undercarriage. Casey swore again, louder this time, and rolled himself out from the undercarriage of the car. "Red? What're you doing here?"

"More than you, apparently."

Rolling his eyes, Casey said, "Whatever. No, the doors are _not_ rusted shut."

* * *

**From Joy:**  
_Do you know anything about some alien brain things?_

**From Raph:  
**_What alien brain things?_

**From Joy:  
**_Hang on, I'll send a picture_

The photo she sent was zoomed in and slightly blurry, but Raph could still make out what appeared to be a blue mannequin with a cross between a brain, an octopus and a face sitting in the chest. It was kind of dark, as though the mannequin was inside but Joy and her camera-phone was not, and angled because she was clearly higher than the mannequin-thing. It stood next to what Raph thought was a crate somewhere in a warehouse and was talking to a guy with the exact same build, dark hair and a suit.

Raph growled, swearing loudly and badly enough to draw a disapproving look from Splinter.

**From Raph:  
**_How'd you get that?_

**From Joy:  
**_I s__potted them. What are they?_

**From Raph:  
**_Where are you?_

She sent the address and told him she was on the roof of a warehouse opposite. Then she asked what they were again.

**From Raph:  
**_Give me twenty minutes, tops_

**From Joy:  
**_Why? What are they?_

**From Raph:  
**_Explain soon. Keep an eye on them_

Judging by the fact that Joy didn't reply, Raph gathered she wasn't too pleased with the arrangement and wanted to know what the 'alien brain things' were. Still, this was important. She was smart enough to understand that.

Raph's first port of call was Leo, who was cleaning his swords. "What?" he asked.

"It's Joy. She found the Kraang." Normally he'd be more than pleased that Joy had texted him, but this was _not_ good news.

"Holy – where?"

"Warehouse downtown." Raph double-checked his phone and read out the address to Leo. "I told her to keep an eye on 'em."

"Good call," Leo said. His voice had gone serious, like it always did when he was in Leader Mode. "We better get going. You tell Mikey; I'll call Donnie."

"Got it. I'll bring his bo staff, too."

"Alright… but for defence purposes _only_. If we can help it, we _only_ do recon. Got it?"

Leonardo was _definitely_ in Leader Mode. His jaw was set; his voice was firm; his eyes were hard and serious. There was no arguing with that tone. Not even for Raph, who normally would have complained or something by now. Maybe it was because the Kraang were back.

Mikey was using his new art set at the kitchen table, and Raph decided not to be an ass and scribble on it in biro. Instead he smacked Mikey on the shoulder, making the goofball jump.

"C'mon Chuckles, Joy found the Kraang. We gotta go."

Mikey stood immediately, forgetting to drop his paintbrush and splattering Raph with paint when he saluted. Raph groaned in irritation and snatched the brush from Mikey's hand.

"Let's just get going."

They changed into their green training jumpsuits – sure, they would be sticking to the rooftops, but it wasn't dark yet and a group of turtles running through New York would be just a _bit_ suspicious – and donned their weapon belts. Leo had called Donnie, who agreed to meet them at the warehouse roof Joy was on.

Raph was the first to spot Joy; he'd been keeping an eye out for her for a couple of blocks now. She wore her mutation-proof jumpsuit. Donnie, too, had just arrived, only he was in his civvies, having come straight from Casey's. Both waved as Raph, Leo and Mikey approached.

"So who _are_ those guys?" Joy asked.

"They're called the Kraang," Raph explained. "Alien brain things from Dimension X. They want to take over the world or mutate everyone on it or something. But I thought we saw the last of them in the summer," he said, turning to Leo.

"It's been a while," Leo pointed out. "They've had plenty of time to recover."

"Great," Joy scoffed. "Now what?"

Raph was a little taken aback. He was about to say _exactly_ that and he wasn't sure whether it was cool or unfair that she'd beaten him to it. But just to be on the safe side, he should probably go with cool.

"We'll have to recon their operation for a while," Leo instructed. "We need to find out what they're up to; determine whether it's an emergency or not."

"All I've seen them do so far is put on identical human disguises," Joy said.

"Yeah," Raph said, "they're not great with disguises. And they don't talk properly, either."

"So I noticed," Joy smirked. "It takes some getting used to."

It took Raph a couple of seconds to remember that Joy had much better hearing than even a regular human did. _Damn_, he was glad she was on their side.

"Did you pick up any of their plans?" Leo asked.

Joy shrugged. "Something about getting something back. They plan to search the city incognito until they find it. Then, I dunno."

"It's a good start," Donnie said. "Now we just need to figure out what it is they want back, and why."

"Maybe they forgot their keys?" Mikey suggested. The others gave him odd looks and he shrugged. "Or their phone. Aren't those like, the top reasons people have to go back for something?"

"I don't think they're back here just cos one of 'em dropped 'is wallet," Raph pointed out. "So wadda we do, Fearless?"

Leo gave himself a second to think about it, the others watching intently, awaiting his orders; and then snapped into action. "Donnie, would you be able to set up some surveillance equipment without being spotted? If it's a peaceful search, we might only need to watch for when they're on the move."

"Of course I would," Donnie said, "but it's all back in the Lair."

There was a brief, uncomfortable pause. Donnie's surveillance equipment had always been used to keep the Lair protected; when they moved, they didn't think they'd need it anymore, so they hadn't bothered to bring it.

"I'll go get it, D," Mikey volunteered. Donnie gave him a sarcastic look.

"Mikey, why would I trust you with any of my equipment?"

"Take Mikey with you," Leo said. "I'll go look for security around the roof of the building. Raph, Joy: keep an eye on the Kraang."

The five of them nodded simultaneously; then Donnie, Mikey and Leo sprang off the roof, the former two heading for the ground and the nearest manhole while Leo hopped onto other roofs. Raph and Joy went to watch the Kraang in their warehouse. Those aliens weren't being very subtle about it. Then again, this was a neighbourhood where people were kind of a rarity. They probably figured they were safe.

"How'd you find those bozos, anyway?" Raph asked.

Watching the warehouse, Joy said, "I was on the way to a friend's house and I spotted 'em by mistake. Obviously it'd look suspicious if I tried to get closer, so I parked a couple of blocks away and flew up here."

"And texted me."

"Right. I figured you'd know something about it."

"I guess we're just better at getting into trouble than you are," Raph smirked.

"You got that right. How'd _you_ guys first meet the Kraang, huh?"

"It's a long story," Raph shrugged. "You doin' okay, Joy?"

She'd seemed stressed when he talked to her during Splinter's after-dinner training session yesterday; and though he wouldn't dare admit it, she _looked_ kinda stressed, too.

"I'm fine," she said dismissively. "Just going through some boring high school teenage crap."

"What sort of crap?"

"Nothing cool like the hockey team," Joy said. She looked pretty irritated. "It's my stupid friends. They tried to set me up with a blind date last week."

Dread and an iota of horror lurched to the front of Raph's mind. "And?" he asked.

Joy grimaced. "Not good. The guy was a creep."

Not exactly being one for details, Raph didn't press for specifics. He was just relieved it hadn't gone well. Was that morally okay? "And what, the guy thought it went well?"

"Yeah," Joy said, raising an eyebrow. "He keeps bugging me for another date. I wouldn't mind but he tried to block my way until I agreed on Friday. How'd you guess?"

"Didn't think there was much else it could be."

Raph wanted to growl. Some creep was hassling Joy in the halls. That wasn't okay at any rate; but this was someone Raph _liked_, which made it even worse.

"Maybe I should just punch him," Joy suggested. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

_I don't either_, Raph thought, as the realisation overcame him that he was suddenly saying, "Maybe you should just see someone else."

Joy smiled; nodded. "That's not a bad idea. Got anyone in mind?"

"Me," he blurted; then he turned away and smacked his hand over his mouth. _What the shell, dude!?_ Turning back, he said, "Y'know, just for one date or something. That might work."

Again Joy smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a great idea, Raph."

And suddenly Raph understood why Leo and Donnie sounded shell-shocked when they announced they'd be going on a date with their respective girlfriends. Something in his chest jolted with surprise, and not in an entirely unpleasant way.

* * *

Mikey was acting suspicious. He was sort of skittish, like the thought he was going to get in trouble, and he seemed to be looking around for something.

Donnie, on the other hand, was surprised at the lack of dust in the lair. It had been sitting empty for months, after all. Actually, it didn't even feel all that empty. Not wanting to think on it for too long, Donnie grabbed his surveillance equipment and left. Something in his lab felt off, too, but suddenly he didn't feel so comfortable with being in there. It didn't feel like _his_ home anymore.

Mikey seemed to relax as they left, but apparently Donnie had spent too long on the surface, because he was jumping at shadows and he _swore_ he heard somebody moving behind them. He got out of there as quickly as possible to set up his surveillance equipment and return… well, _home_.


	20. Performing

**A/N: WOO, twenty chapters!**

**Mistystar123: Thanks, I'll get writing that one!  
****Thor-Born: So many things happening in this one. Three pairings down now, one to go. I'm glad you're enjoying my story so much; thank you! I don't think there are words to explain how happy what you've said makes me  
****The potatoe one: Yeah, Raph might need lessons in talking to girls. Don't worry, I already know how I plan to get Mikey and Angel together… more or less. Thanks for the comment; the '87-based one would probably be a long-ish one so I think I'll write it as a multi-chapter story when the one-shots are done  
****Tmntlover2013: Thanks so much  
****Memmek10k: ALL the ships! You're very welcome**

_**Lockout**_** reference because Cosmetic Punches are the best punches… not trying to make Raph a jerk; I just figure he's not always the best at 'helping'. Random cap of the language in this, too. Moments with ALL the pairings! Also, cliff-hanger because I'm a horrible person. The first one-shot will be up soon; I just want to re-draft it. It's under the title **_**Cuddle Monster**_** because I'm not good with titles**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Performing**

_Well he walked up to me  
__And he asked me if I wanted to dance  
__He looked kinda nice  
__And so I said "I might take a chance"  
_~ _And Then He Kissed Me_ by The Crystals

If you were one of the sophomores stupid enough to pick Drama as their electives, December didn't mean watching Mikey get overly excited during the build-up to Christmas, spending more time with family, putting up Christmas decorations and eating all the chocolate from the advent calendar all at once because you were too weak to resist. It meant arriving at school an hour early and finishing an hour late so the productions would be finished in time and would actually look good.

It wasn't too bad for Leo and Karai. They saw each other most nights and, between sparring, deciding what to do on their next date, exchanging information about the Foot clan and kissing, they had begun a semi-desperate last-minute attempt to brainstorm the final details and ideas. Not to mention, Karai trained early in the morning, so she was already used to getting up early; and having lived with Michelangelo for sixteen years now, Leo was used to the idea of not being allowed to sleep on a morning.

The Unworkable Two – Makeup Girl and Party Boy, whose names turned out to be Amy and Sam – had suffered at first for the extra hour on either side of the school day, but they were getting used to it. They had finally gotten their acts together and the group was actually working really well now.

The first Friday in December was a good one for them, especially. There were only two weeks left to go until they had to give their performances, and they were finalising their work and trying to figure out what props they needed to bring in. Leo was, as always, the first one in. Karai was usually next, but she had texted him earlier saying she'd be late, so Party Boy was next in. All groups had to hand in a written piece to accompany their assignment, and he had turned out to be pretty good at this part, so he and Leo were going over it together to make sure it was perfect. Makeup Girl was the next in; she was putting the finishing touches on a redrawing of their set design… which, if anybody asked, had been done entirely by her and not copied up from a design Mikey had done. Absolutely not. No way. The group were due to start putting the set together as soon as the copies had been made.

Karai strode in half an hour late and hollered, "Morning!"

Leo thought she sounded oddly cheerful but forgot his suspicion momentarily when he discovered that she was wearing a festive, red shirt under her jacket. More importantly, though, she was carrying a duffel bag.

"What's in the bag?" he asked.

"Call it an early Christmas present," Karai said. "Trust me. You guys are going to _love_ this."

She unzipped the bag to reveal some kind of fabric. Makeup Girl realised what it was first and squealed with excitement.

"_You got our costumes!?_"

Surely only bats should be able to hear at that frequency.

"I had them specially made," Karai announced, setting the bag down and handing a costume out to each member of the group before retrieving her own so they could all compare. "I went to one of my father's connections… the one who makes the dresses I wear to big events."

No. She shouldn't be doing this. Sure, it would look good, but it was too much.

But the costume _did_ look good. And it would save the trouble of searching everywhere for one.

"Karai –" Leo began; but when she turned to him, his throat closed up and he found he couldn't say anything. He didn't even know what to say; whether he wanted to tell her thank you or that she shouldn't have paid so much (they looked expensive) to have the costumes specially done, he had no idea.

She gave him a sarcastic look and instructed, "Don't you dare tell me it's cheating. Pete in Group B got his older brother to help them with lighting ideas. The guy's job is doing lighting for stage-shows. Amy –" she nodded to Makeup Girl – "is doing our makeup and she had her cousin, who's a beautician, teach her _just_ for this thing. And it's not like we haven't already had outside help anyway."

Yes, okay, that one was true. Leo had borrowed Mikey's comic books and artistic ability, combined with a couple of set designs from the older series of _Space Heroes_ (April's mutation day present to him) and some of Donnie's sketches of possible weapons and vehicles, and had given the resultant concepts to Amy to copy up, so it would seem like the group had done the work themselves.

And that trip to the beautician-cousin had clearly done Amy some good. She actually looked like a human being now.

"Okay," he said, with an affectionate eye-roll. "We can do a dress rehearsal tomorrow. I want to get all this finished first."

Karai gave a satisfied salute, taking the costumes back and folding them neatly into the duffle bag, which had their names written on it in sharpie.

* * *

"A _sophomore_!?" one of Joy's friends shrieked, shocked. She was immediately shushed by Joy and two others, and lowered her voice apologetically. "You're dating a _sophomore_? Joy, hun, I love you and all, but what are you _thinking_?"

"We're not technically dating yet. And I was thinking I prefer Raph to the creep _you_ tried to set me up with," Joy said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow pointedly.

"Wait, _Raph_?" another of Joy's friends asked. "You mean that Raphael Hamato guy? The guy all the freshmen and sophomores are fangirling about?"

Although the juniors and seniors were somewhat interested, the lower two grades of the school had taken the most interest in Raph and his brothers. For the upper two, the excitement had faded a little. Some thought the lower grades were beneath them; not important. And as for the others… well, Joy Reno had been there to be their Hamato Brothers. Puberty had suddenly caught up with the poor little loser who was always being dragged around by that Teresa chick and everybody knew there was just Something about her.

Joy suspected that Something which surrounded herself – and, apparently, Raph's family – was the fact that they were mutants. It was as though the fully-human kids could sense they were different and their minds interpreted it as _automatically cool_. The hype had only surrounded her briefly, of course, because she had quickly blended in with the other kids at school, almost like she was fading into the background. The Hamato family hadn't; they'd remained different and mysterious and almost unattainable.

Almost.

It must have something to do with their confidence, too, because it had only happened to Joy when she first dumped Teresa, gained that sudden confidence and realised that yeah, she was a mutant, but she _really liked_ being herself. And no-one was going to change her mind about that ever again like Teresa had tried to do. Raph and his brothers knew and liked who they were, too.

"Yeah, him," Joy shrugged.

"I didn't know you two knew each other," the second friend said.

"We go to the same dojo. Martial arts, y'know. We always spar together."

"How romantic," the first friend joked sarcastically. Then she smiled a little bit. "Probably better than Tinder."

"_Much_ better than Tinder," Joy agreed.

"So when are you two going on your date, anyway?"

"Tonight. He's got hockey practise but we're going later."

"After he's showered, I hope," the first friend joked.

"Yeah, obviously."

Joy had never put much thought into going to see the original fight between Raph and Casey Jones. All she remembered in terms of her deciding to go see it was hearing one of the famous Hamato brothers had beaten up some bully; then hearing the next day that the same kid had an audition for the school hockey team. She'd figured the guy must be a good fighter and an organised fight between him and the school's hockey star sounded like fun.

And she had been impressed when she went to see the fight. She had already been excited to realise (when she read the school paper, of course) that there was a dojo open near her which ran sessions she could get to, and she had just all over had a great day that day.

It must've been when Raph first made the joke about fangirls finding out about the dojo and then threw her teasing straight back at her – _You're here, aintcha_ was what he'd said – that she realised he was someone she would be totally okay with having a crush on.

"What are you actually gonna _do_?" the third of her friends asked.

Now, obviously Joy had been on dates before, but the relationships hadn't really lasted too long because Joy had never really felt a connection with her dates. No sparks whatsoever. Maybe it was the overdone clichés – dinner or a movie, and the guy just _had_ to be a perfect gentleman and compliment her every two seconds and drive her home and insist on paying for everything – or maybe it was the fact that while her dates were mostly lookers, she'd only been able to have a deep conversation with one of them, and it had been about how much they hated their miserable, grumpy Math teacher. Maybe it was the fact they were ultimately human and she wasn't. Maybe it was even that she didn't know what sort of relationship she wanted with them. To tell the truth, she still didn't; but she _did_ know she liked Raph more than a friend should. More, in fact, than she'd liked her previous dates.

Tonight should prove to be interesting, Joy decided. Raph didn't seem like one for the whole Romance thing (thank God; she'd been getting fed up of it. She was only a junior, after all; there'd be time for that later) and he didn't exactly have the money for a proper meal out at a really nice restaurant like some of her previous dates did. She knew this. And actually, going to catch a movie shown on the outside of a building and going to a hotdog cart for food had been in part her idea; namely because it was free (the movie, not the food) and they were both broke but for enough money to go to – no surprises here – a hotdog cart.

Joy was actually kind of looking forward to it. It could be… well, _fun_.

* * *

In movies and TV guys pick up their date on date night, but Raph didn't know where he was going so obviously it didn't happen like that. Sure, he could've taken the Shell Cycle and gotten directions from Joy, but he didn't exactly have his license yet.

And since the date wasn't anything formal, he didn't dress up all smart, either. Just a decent, clean pair of jeans and a red shirt with a dark jacket. He tried to finger-brush his hair into a slightly flatter position. It didn't fall all over his face in a mop-like mess as it had when he was a kid but it was just long enough to force to look casually messy, although his hair _did_ stand up a lot still.

Joy arrived around seven-ish in her dark green 2003 model Ford C-Max; the same car she'd picked up Raph and his brothers in on Halloween night. She wore skinny jeans and a dark t-shirt under a pale jacket. _Shell_, it looked nice on her.

"I didn't think the 2003 model came in this colour," Raph commented, hopping into the passenger's seat of the car.

"It's been repainted at some point," Joy shrugged. "Actually, I got it from Casey Jones. Small world, huh?"

Of course it would be Jones she'd gotten the car from. Half the surrounding blocks had probably bought a car from him at some point.

As they drove, there was silence with the exception of the radio and some minor road rage from Joy. Raph was pleased with this; at least he wasn't the only one with anger issues. And who knew Joy would have such a colourful vocabulary?

But other than that, they were quiet. Raph had never actually been on a date before and Joy had never been on a casual date before, so neither had much idea what they were doing and there wasn't a lot to talk about. Joy stopped the car after about twenty minutes. "It's about a ten-minute walk," she said. "Five, if we walk fast. I don't wanna get caught in traffic on the way out."

"Good choice," Raph agreed. The road rage was cool and all, but avoidable road rage would be overkill. "So… what movie are they showin'?"

"It's Christmas; they're showing _Die Hard_."

Raph blinked. "I… thought it'd be a legit Christmas movie," he said, surprised. "Y'know, _Home Alone_ or something."

"_Die Hard_ is _totally_ a legitimate Christmas movie," Joy justified. "It's set on Christmas Eve and they keep reminding you it's Christmas. Besides, they're projecting the movie against an office building, so they can play louder movies without upsetting any little kids' sleeping patterns."

Raph suddenly had the urge to say something stupid, but he repressed it as best he could and instead he said, "Sounds like my kind of first date."

"I thought so," Joy smirked.

They came to the park where the moviegoers would be viewing it from. A small crowd sat in there already; it had been chosen as the venue so they would be able to see the movie without hurting their necks by looking up at an odd angle.

He and Joy sat on one of the benches, and out of nowhere she said, "How are we doing this, anyway?"

"Huh? Doin' what?"

"This relationship or whatever you want to call it. Do we say we're together or what?"

Raph shrugged. "I guess. Or we could, y'know, keep it casual until we figure out where we're goin' with it."

"Like what, dating but not going steady?"

"If that's cool with you." Raph stuffed his hands into his pockets and crossed his fingers that she was. He was aware at this point (April had asked) that Joy had been on dates before but never actually entered into a proper relationship. And he wasn't entirely sure himself what sort of relationship he wanted with her.

"That sounds do-able," Joy agreed, nodding. "Yeah, let's do that for now."

That worked for Raph, too. Sure, Leo and Donnie had gotten together with Karai and April straight away, but they'd known one another for longer (even if, in Leo and Karai's case, it wasn't necessarily a good thing). And something a bit more casual would work, Raph thought, better for him than it would for his brothers.

The movie was definitely not a typical, cheesy, classic Christmas movie. On the other hand, it was _exactly_ Raph's type of movie. He and Joy sat on one of the benches, watched the movie and made sarcastic comments. Not exactly what Leo and Donnie had done on _their_ first dates, but definitely more Raph's speed.

They didn't kiss. Didn't hold hands or anything like that. But it was still good. And they could always go on another date where they'd do all that stuff.

* * *

The text came through the night after Raph's date with Joy.

**From Angel:  
**_Sent to raid a jewellery store uptown. Will be there approx. 10:30. 5 others with me_

Mikey sighed in frustration. He'd been dreading this moment ever since he found out Angel was with the Purple Dragons. He knew Angel had agreed to let him know beforehand when she was sent on 'missions' with the Purple Dragons, but he still wasn't too pleased with it. He'd told her he was a mutant to convince her to _leave_ the Purple Dragons, not stay on with them as a spy.

**From Mikey:  
**_We're on our way_

**From Angel:  
**_See you on the battlefield?_

This was part of the code they had put together when Angel had first decided she wanted to be their spy. Loosely translated, _See you on the battlefield_ meant _Let's fight. Make it convincing_.

He sent back _Okay_ and grabbed the others, who transformed, grabbed their weapons and headed out. April had already gone home and Leo wasn't meeting his girlfriend tonight, so they didn't have to apologise for running out.

It didn't take them long to reach the store Angel had been sent to; in fact they still had a good ten minutes before she was supposed to get there. Leo took them through the basic battle plan: block the side-alley, if the Dragons went in or left through the side-door. Otherwise, trap them inside the store and take them out… with the exception of one.

"Are you going to fight Angel?" Leo asked Mikey, well aware that his youngest brother wasn't going to let the others try.

"Yeah," Mikey said. He didn't sound happy about it. To be fair, he wasn't.

They didn't have to wait much longer for a group of six Purple Dragons – including Angel, who wore her Dragon armband – to approach. She and two others were armed, and they had her pick the lock on the shop's side-door. The alarm didn't go off, either disabled or faulty or simply not there.

Leo gave the signal for the others to block the alley now, while the Dragons were distracted. He and Raph took the end of the alley which opened onto the street; Mikey and Donnie took the other end.

The Dragons emerged carrying bags of looted jewellery; even Angel. They had agreed, reluctantly, that she would have to steal things too, to make it look convincing. The Turtles could always take the stolen items from her and return them to the original owners.

The leader of the group of Purple Dragons hesitated for a moment. Then he shouted, "Waste 'em!" and all ten occupants of the alley launched into battle.

Mikey took out a large, ugly, unarmed guy before he found himself confronted by Angel. It didn't feel right to have to fight her. It felt nearly as bad as it woulda done if she still didn't know he was a mutant. And she wasn't afraid to hit him, whereas he was pulling his hits. And boy, did she hit hard. Especially with that tonfa, but Mikey thought she wasn't putting her full strength into that.

"Get it together," she taunted. "What is this, a _game_?"

Her tone was playful and she gave him a mischievous look.

_Oh, DUH. A game!_

She was _playing_. That was why she was hitting so hard. It was like when they practised soccer. Like that time they tried to out-suckishly-play each other without looking like they were doing it on purpose. Hit, get hit; miss the goal on purpose. Winner has to buy ice cream.

This was good. This could work. It didn't feel so bad to be fighting her anymore.

Of course, they ended up getting competitive like they always did. Mikey accidentally hit Angel _too_ hard in the arm. She hissed, ducked under his nunchucks (which he was using purely for show) and tackled him. He only went down because he was surprised – and because she had thrown all her weight into it. He landed on his shell, blinking in surprise. Angel smirked down at him victoriously, one boot on his plastron to show she had won this time.

_Shell no_. She was still just shy of fifteen. Michelangelo was sixteen and a ninja. He was _so_ not gonna get his shell waxed by a freshman. It didn't matter _how_ cute she was.

_Wait, what?_

Never mind.

He grabbed her boot at the ankle and pulled her to the ground with him. She gave a small cry of surprise when she fell and kicked out at him, just missing his jaw.

"Come on, you can do better than that," Raph's voice hollered. "Kick him in the face."

Mikey and Angel froze; turned to each other. Then Angel started laughing and Mikey, turning red, jumped to his feet and pulled her up. The main fight had ended and now Mikey's bros were watching the fight between him and Angel. And apparently they were rooting for Angel.

_Thanks, guys. Real supportive. What great brothers you are. I love you too._

Angel kicked the dropped bag of goods she had stolen over to Raph. "Here," she said. "I'll tell 'em I got lucky and got out. Nearly lost or something."

"You lost anyway," Mikey muttered.

"I so did _not_!"

"You totally _did_!"

"Children, children!" That was Donnie. "Can we save this for later?"

Angel grumbled something under her breath and said, "I better go report in. Should I drag one of these guys' sorry butts back to the hangout?"

Leo shook his head. "You just lost a fight," he informed her. "You're not strong enough to drag someone else back."

Angel nodded. "Anything else?"

"One more thing," Raph said. "Hold still."

He turned his right hand into a human hand and punched her. Not hard enough to do any real damage, but hard enough to make Mikey shriek in horror – the sound was embarrassingly effeminate – and Angel stagger back a few steps, looking dazed. Mikey grabbed her shoulders and he, Leo and Donnie began yelling at Raph, who remained calm, standing with his arms crossed.

"What the _shell_ dude!?" Mikey exclaimed. "That is _not_ okay!"

"It's just cosmetic," Raph justified. "Like in that movie, remember, where the guy punched the president's daughter so she'd look tough? Now _she_ –" he nodded in Angel's direction – "looks like she's actually _been_ in a fight."

Mikey didn't want to admit it, but Raph was right. Angel was dirty from being dragged to the ground and she had scrapes on her arms, and bruises, but the thing that really made her look like she'd lost a fight was the blood at one corner of her nose. Mikey still didn't like it, but it worked. And Angel seemed to think it was a good idea. She headed back to wherever the Purple Dragons hung out.

"I am gonna hit you _so_ hard," Mikey informed Raph darkly, when Angel was out of earshot.

"Pfft. Sure," Raph scoffed.

Leo and Donnie, at least, were entertained. Leo instructed the others to help tie up the Purple Dragons and Donnie fixed the store's alarm, deliberately set it off, and the Turtles took to the rooftops and headed home.

* * *

Angel's nose stung for a few minutes where Raph had punched her, but he hadn't hit her that hard. It was mostly just the shock. That, and she was breathing pretty hard as she ran back to the Purple Dragons' hideout, so the cold air was going up her nose, making it sting. Besides, she'd caught her reflection in shop windows, and she looked more like she'd been in an actual fight now. She should probably also give him credit for the fact that he'd been careful to hit her in the nose but not break it. That was pretty good.

It wasn't like she was too pleased that she'd been punched in the face, but she had to admit, it was a good move.

She gave the three-fingered salute to the Dragon 'guarding' the chain-link fence and ran inside. She really _was_ tired now. Sure, she was in pretty good shape, but that was a lot of running. And she _had_ just been (sort of) in a fight with Mikey.

Not that it had been much of a fight. Until she turned it into a game, he was acting almost like he was scared to hit her. Most girls would say it was sweet that he didn't want to hit her, but it was kind of necessary so her cover wouldn't get blown.

Then again, he'd been against the whole thing from the start. Angel huffed. She was getting used to seeing Mikey and his brothers as turtles now, but it felt weird to be fighting them. She was just glad they weren't fighting for real.

As she entered the warehouse, one of the higher-ranking Purple Dragons recognised her as being in the group who went to the uptown jewellery store and came up to her to find out what had happened.

"You alright, kid?" he asked.

"It was those turtles," she spat, still panting heavily from all the running she'd been doing and trying to sound as spiteful as she could. "They jumped us. Took out the others. I tried to fight."

The guy took note of her injured nose and the bruises and scrapes all up her arms. Then he swore. "Those –" Eff-word – "-ing turtles. I swear I'll kill 'em if I ever see 'em."

Angel tensed but forced herself to relax. "Yeah. Jerks tied up the others and took my loot. I wouldn't mind a piece of them either."

The Dragon gave her a look. Ordinarily Angel would be worried about that, but Purple Dragons didn't exactly have a tendency to be intelligent. "How'd _you_ get away?" the guy asked.

"Musta got lucky," Angel shrugged.

"There's a rumour goin' round that one of 'em likes you."

Angel didn't blush like when Mikey had said the '_our cat_' thing. She'd heard this rumour from the very top, after all. "Maybe that's how I got away," she shrugged.

Just before she left the warehouse Angel's phone alerted her to an incoming text. She ignored it for now, just in case it was from one of the Turtles, repeated her story several times, to several other Purple Dragons who apparently needed to know, said she had to go or people would get suspicious, and left. She was around the corner from the warehouse before she checked her phone.

**From Mikey:  
**_You okay? Need any help?_

A tiny smile tried to force its way onto the corner of Angel's mouth. That was right; she'd said she'd go to him next time she got hurt.

**From Angel:  
**_Not too bad. Don't need the hospital_

**From Mikey:  
**_Is your nose okay?_

**From Angel:  
**_Kind of sore. Not broken though. Be there soon_

**From Mikey:  
**_Good_

Angel headed in the direction of Mikey's place. He and his brothers knew what to do so it hopefully wouldn't look too much like she'd been in a fight when she got to school. Besides, Mikey would kill her if she didn't let him play doctor again.

Although she was beginning to doubt whether he was capable of killing her. He'd _definitely_ not been hitting her all that hard in their staged fight.

* * *

It took two weeks of working like crazy, but April was finally prepared to cover the performances the drama students would be giving. She had to interview every student about nearly every aspect of each performance and write up as much as she could for them; then she had to make sure she could still take notes on the actual shows. Combine that with school work and she was heading straight home after her ninja training so she could finish everything on time, meaning she had basically no time to spend with Donnie or his brothers or Irma or anyone.

And that really sucked for her, because she hadn't seen her best girl friend in ages and she felt like she'd barely seen her boyfriend over the past two weeks; but considering he was also working on defending the city on top of school stuff, the timing was pretty convenient.

The performances were being done after school ended, so April left her last class a few minutes early to secure herself a decent seat. She saved seats beside her in the front row for the rest of Leo's family and waved like mad to get their attention when she saw them walk in. She'd been so busy, it almost felt like she hadn't seen them in ages. Families and supporting friends began to file in behind them.

Donnie sat on one side of her, some random younger sibling from a different family on the other, and April almost asked who the tall guy with Raph and Mikey was. Splinter didn't take on his human form often, and it had been so long since she'd seen it that she nearly forgot what his human self looked like.

"Thank God for the holidays," April said. "I need a serious break from all this work I've been doing." She didn't say it, but she planned to spend as much of her free time as possible with the Turtles. Especially Donnie.

"I wish I could say the same thing," Donnie said. "But the free time will be a welcome change."

He wasn't looking forward to the probable Christmas crimes. April could tell. But then he covered April's hand with his own and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. She grinned at him, forgetting that she was suddenly anxious about all the extra robberies he and his brothers might have to stop over the holidays.

"Can I talk you into being my assistant again?" she asked, raising a spare notepad and pen. It was easier to do these assignments with some help, and Donnie had a real thing for accuracy and tiny details.

"Absolutely," Donnie agreed. He took the spare notepad and pen from her and sat back because Mikey had decided to lean across him and chat to April.

For a while, they just sat and chatted. Raph was annoyed with Mikey for figuring out how to get back at him for punching Angel in the nose. Angel herself wasn't mad – she'd told April what had happened herself, and her excuse was that she'd fended off an amateur mugger – but she'd joked that she'd rather do her own cosmetics in the future.

So, Mikey's revenge: he'd wrapped the entire contents of Raph's room (with the exception of his pet turtle, Spike, although the terrarium _had_ been wrapped) in tin foil. How and when he'd found the time to do that was anybody's guess, but Raph had spent a long time removing tin foil from things. It had then been wadded up into a number of tinfoil snowballs and thrown at Mikey's head. The resultant tinfoil-snowball fight would have left them both grounded if anything had been broken. Instead they had to clean up all the tinfoil and work together to make dinner. Donnie said he'd never felt so ill. Mikey argued that Raph had done most of the cooking and "It woulda been worse if Angel's nose had been broken."

"But she was alright!" Raph protested.

"You must remember, Raphael," Splinter interjected at this point, "that Angel is not like us. She will not heal as fast as we do."

"Yeah," Mikey said, in the same gloating way a five-year-old who's been proven right might say it.

"But I was just tryin' to –"

"Hush now, my son. It is starting."

Someone dimmed all the lights but the ones over the stage. The drama teacher made a brief (and pretty funny) speech introducing what was going to happen and wishing everyone a happy holiday, and then the first performance began. Leo's group would be on last, and his family (and April) sat patiently, waiting for their turn to support him.

During the second-last performance, April heard Donnie's t-Phone vibrate with the alert of an incoming text. She saw him remove it from his pocket; check the text. She almost thought she could _feel_ something click in his mind when she tried to read his expression. He mouthed a swear and frantically sent a text to Leo, whose t-Phone was of course in his bag with his school clothes; he wouldn't be receiving it yet because he was waiting in the wings for his turn to perform.

**From Donnie:  
**_Get Karai out of there as soon as you're done. DON'T LET HER GO HOME WITH SHREDDER_


	21. Changes

**A/N: chapter twenty-one. Shell yeah! Thanks for coming back for more**

**Sorry for the delay, guys. College work's been getting really intense lately so I haven't had much time to write, but it's supposed to calm back down soon. However, in return for your patience, I have not only the next one-shot but I've decided to add more to the previous one**

**Also, sorry if the ending here feels rushed but I REALLY wanted to get it posted tonight. The second one-shot will be up soon under the title **_**Casey's Sister**_

**Shiego627: Come on Leo you have to protect your girlfriend (even if she can totally whoop your butt)  
****Mistystar123: I know, I know, I'm a horrible person… and I'm not sorry, either  
****Memmek10k: Thanks! The others know Karai is related to Shredder but Donnie's just figured out something bad is about to happen  
****Tmntlover2013: Thank you!  
****The potatoe one: Tin-Grin's always up to no good. Thanks, by the way. The tinfoil thing is a college/office prank I found somewhere on the internet, though, so I shouldn't get too much credit for that one. Yeah, sometimes characters have their own thing in mind, but this idea isn't changing because I've had it for a long time  
****ljkarai1403: I'm glad you think so. Heh, MikeyxAngel is turning into my OTP (which is weird because I started writing this story for the Apritello oops)  
****Thor-Born: Spoilers, sorry, you'll have to read on to find that out. Thank God for that; I was actually kind of worried I might be jumping around too much. Yeah, I figured that's pretty much how their relationships would go; glad I got that one right. Actually you're the second person who's asked my about the play; unfortunately it isn't the main focus of this chapter. Thanks so much; I know I'm not exactly great at writing fight-scenes, but I was hoping writing this story would help me fix that. Apparently it's working  
****Mary: Like I've said, I've had a lot of college work that's been getting in the way of my writing  
****Juanita27: Thanks so much! Here's the net chapter!  
****Goodtrey: Thank you  
****Blanko101girl: Yeah, sorry about that. College work's had me bogged down for a while  
****Rachel Lyse Brook: Haha, sorry. Glad you're enjoying it!  
****Sad: I'm trying, but college has had me weighed down with work lately  
****Vballplyr16: Yeah, sorry. The intense college work lasted longer than I expected**

**Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Changes**

_He was turned to steel  
In the great magnetic field  
When he travelled time  
For the future of mankind_  
~_ Iron Man _by Black Sabbath

The wings on either side of (and behind) were dark and you had to keep quiet or everyone in the audience would be able to hear you; something about the way sounds echoed on the walls and floor. And only one of the side ones was really a wing: the other two were corridors, one leading to the drama classroom and the other leading to the outside of the building. The door to the outside always had to be locked with a sign on it when there were performances going on, because it could be guaranteed at least one stupid person would try to go through… and then knock and shout when they found out the door was locked.

The sad part was that it was mostly adults doing that. Adults could think what they wanted about the intelligence of kids, Leo decided, but that didn't mean they were so much smarter all the time. Sometimes they were less intelligent.

Like when they tried to get through the frosted-glass door when it was so obvious that there was a show going on.

Leo sighed, relieved to know someone else would have to deal with it. He and the rest off his group waited in the wings. From where they stood they could hear the ongoing play, but they couldn't see it too well because they had to make sure they weren't seen by anyone in the audience. That was alright, though. They'd seen it earlier.

The group who were already on had agreed to help them swap sets over while the curtains were drawn and the drama teacher made some kind of introduction like he had with all the other groups, so now they just had to wait. He played nervously with the fasteners on the front of his costume.

Leo's costume had come in three main parts, if you ignored the ridiculously high-quality army boots. He was playing a high-class spaceship captain and as such, wore a formal, authoritative navy jacket; a pair of black pants, sharply creased, which would later be adjusted to look more informal (a trick added by whoever Karai went to for the costumes); and a khaki tank top, hidden by the jacket and designed to look flattering on him. His hair had been slicked back and a press-on tattoo added to his left arm at the deltoid.

Karai's character was a space-age mercenary: she wore army-camo shorts, a black shirt with a halter neckline, a denim jacket with the left sleeve torn off at the elbow, fingerless leather gloves and knee-high boots. She wasn't wearing the makeup Leo had gotten used to now: it was minimal and designed to make her face look darker; dirtier. The lack of makeup made her look almost like an adult, just like it had last year. Brownish lipstick and brown eye-shadow and brown blusher, with a long silvery wig. Not grey. Silver. Almost white, in fact.

They hadn't come up with a fantastic plot. But while other plays had gone for the typical forbidden-love scenarios, they had created a story about a scruffy, common-as-dirt mercenary who loved her job and a high-class captain who hated his; a sci-fi, of course. Leo's character had been made to prepare for the job his entire life by his parents, while Karai's character had taken off at a young age to do her own thing. At some point along the way, Leo's character was forced to go underground after a failed attempt to arrest Karai's character led to him being wrongly accused of murder, and the two teamed up. The other half of the group were side-characters with more basic costumes consisting of black pants and t-shirts; and behind the set pieces were hidden an assortment of hats, jackets and wigs for them to change into.

Oh, and Karai's character died at the end… this had, unexpectedly, been thought up by Amy (because "If we can't have any romance in this, we at least need Feels").

The lights went down onstage and the curtains were drawn, indicating the end of the previous show. Leo's group whispered a quick "Good luck" to one another and hurried on to swap the set pieces over.

* * *

Ordinarily, telling Oroku Saki that his daughter was working with the enemy, even in the context of a classroom setting, would have resulted in bad things happening… to put it nicely. But this would almost certainly be his last chance to show Karai any fatherly support in such trivial things as school events. There were more important things to be done afterwards. This could be a send-off, of sorts, to her school life.

So, for just a few hours, he would put to one side his knowledge that the… the _thing_ playing Karai's good friend on-stage was the adopted child of Hamato Yoshi. She would most probably not be returning to school after today. It would be a shame to ruin her final day in formal education by killing one of the people she was to perform with.

He was aware that Karai was an excellent actor, but now he knew she was better than he realised. The chemistry she had with Leonardo, if not for the knowledge that they were enemies in reality, was extremely believable. Saki rarely felt things such as pride – his mind was often filled with things such as revenge, and taking out Hamato Yoshi and his mutant clan – but pride was certainly something he felt now.

Should he regret his decision? Change his plans? He'd been working on them with Stockman and Chaplin for months now, and it would be a waste and a pity to scrap the plans outright, but he could always push them back. Certainly Chaplin would not mind. Saki was aware that Chaplin had some form of feelings for Karai, and when asked the day Chaplin began working for him, Saki had said that if Karai expressed a returned interest in Chaplin then he would not make active efforts to put a stop to the relationship. Karai seemed disinterested, but Saki was sure Chaplin would appreciate the extra time to try to earn her interest.

But, no. These plans were for the good of the Foot Clan, and it was imperative that they be undertaken as soon as possible. It had to happen tonight.

* * *

April knew she was supposed to be concentrating on the show, but she couldn't exactly focus when she was getting more and more frustrated with each passing minute. She had no idea what was going on with the text Donnie had sent, Donnie looked like his mind was going a mile a minute, and she couldn't exactly interrupt what was happening on-stage to ask him what it was. She should probably wait until afterwards, but it looked like an emergency. She just wished she could figure it out.

And no matter how hard she tried, April just couldn't figure out what Donnie was thinking. She'd done it before, hadn't she? She'd been able to tell what was going through his mind. For a while she'd thought that maybe it was because they were close; they were on the same level or something. But Donnie wasn't the only one she'd managed it on. What about that time she tried to figure out what Leo was thinking the morning after he scored his first date with Karai, and she'd seen what had happened?

It was almost like… she didn't know. Like mind-reading, maybe. It seemed like such a long shot, but what if she could do it again? It probably wouldn't work, but maybe if she concentrated, _really_ concentrated –

April had read _Carrie_ last school year, and when Carrie had use her telekinesis, something in her mind would _flex_. Well, April wasn't using telekinesis, so her brain didn't _flex_. It was closer to a _click_. Similar to the _click_ of a seatbelt, but it was something more to do with Donnie's mind in this case. Something mental.

_Oh God I hope Leo got that text this is bad this is really really bad Karai's in trouble the snake research the mutagen testing why didn't I figure it out before Shredder's going to mutate someone probably Karai oh God I need to_

The thought came across in Donnie's voice, but it wasn't in the coherent sentence-structure April had seen in stories before; the way thoughts were in hindsight. It was closer to how thoughts came across in a Stephen King novel… damn, he got a lot of things right.

Donnie's train of thought was fresh and just-formed, happening in real time, and not only was it awful, but there was a sense of invasion that came with it – like accidentally walking in on someone while they're taking a shower. It was loud, too, and underneath there were more things. He was worried about how Leo would take it if Karai got mutated. He was aware that April was staring at him. He could sense some sort of invasion in his head.

A pounding headache came on as April forced her mind out of Donnie's with another _click_ and let out a gasp of surprise (and a little pain), drawing his attention and concern. How had she _done_ that!?

More importantly, was Karai going to be okay?

Wow. April hadn't expected, when she first got herself into all of this, to be getting worried about Karai's wellbeing. Then again, she hadn't expected to be asked for ideas on what Leo might want to do for a date, and Karai had done that.

Huh. Weird.

* * *

The show actually went better than expected, and Leo's group high-fived one another backstage before heading to the changing rooms to collect their things and go home. They had exchanged Christmas cards earlier and now couldn't wait to get home and just take a break. Well, for the most part in Leo and Karai's case. They still had ninja duties to deal with, but at least the workload had now lessened some.

Leo wasn't in the habit of checking his t-Phone unless it went off (Raph and Donnie often chastised him for that), but as he left the changing rooms he suddenly got the feeling he should check it anyway. He looked up as he searched his bag with one hand and saw Karai leaving with Oroku Saki. Then he found his phone and discovered Donnie had texted him.

_Geez, what couldn't wait until after the show?_

He opened the text, scanned it, glanced up and realised he couldn't see Karai anymore.

… oh crap.

Oh crap, this was bad. Donnie generally didn't text in the middle of school unless there was an emergency or severely bad news anyway, and the warning not to let Karai go home with the Shredder was top of the list of bad news _and_ emergencies. And he hadn't got the text in time to stop Karai.

Oh crap.

Next thing Leo knew, Donnie had pushed his way through the crowd and was at his side, looking hassled.

"Where's Karai?" he demanded.

Leo shook his head. "I got the message too late; she's already gone home. Donnie, what's going on? Why can't she go home with Shred-Head?"

Donnie groaned. "You know what? Just try and convince her to leave ASAP. In the meantime, I need to get back to my lab _immediately_. That's all we can do to help at this point."

April and the others had appeared at some point and she said, "I'll text Karai too. If there's two of us trying to get her to leave before anything bad happens, she might take it more seriously."

Leo blinked at them both. Wasn't _he_ supposed to be the leader?

"Do any of you want to actually _tell_ me what's happening?"

"_Shredder's been working on a mutagen to turn someone into a snake, and I think he might be planning to mutate Karai,_" Donnie explained, speaking in Japanese so nobody would overhear by accident. Then, in English, he said, "Raph, I need a ride on your bike."

"I thought you said I ride like a maniac."

"I _know_ –" uh oh. If Donnie was getting frustrated, bad things were probably going to happen – "but I need to get to my lab as soon as I can. I want to go through those files and see if I can create a retromutagen. We have to undo whatever happens as fast as possible, because if whoever gets mutated finds Master Splinter –"

He cut himself off, but the others got the message. The Shredder planned to mutate someone – and they thought that someone was Karai – into an animal whose natural instinct was to hunt and kill rats. And if Splinter was found, the Foot would know where they lived, and the whole lot of them were as good as dead.

Raph and Donnie took off on the Shell-Cycle and the others practically had to carry Leo back to the house. They walked fast, not running only because April was there, although she tried to insist they go on ahead so she could catch up. Splinter said that it would most probably not make a difference how fast they returned, but April wanted to believe they could stop it if they got home faster.

April sent her a text and prayed Karai was better at checking her phone than Leo was, unsure whether she wanted to yell or punch something. Maybe both. Was this how Raph felt most of the time?

* * *

It was more than fair to say Karai was feeling suspicious; in fact, that might even be an understatement. Her father had come along to the performance alone and then congratulated on it afterwards. Of course that shouldn't be suspect – all parents did that sort of thing – but it was out of character for him.

In the ride home, the way he spoke made her uncomfortable, too. He didn't mention Hamato Yoshi or the Turtles once, and when he mentioned Leo (in regards to the show) he spoke as though Leo was just another person she went to school with. Although, truth be told, she was momentarily distracted from her suspicion by amusement when Saki mentioned the convincing acting in regards to her chemistry with Leo… uh, yeah, '_acting_'. Sure.

Just yesterday he hadn't been able to shut up about how he was finally going to defeat them once and for all, and how she wouldn't have to be working with '_that freak_' anymore. The change from that was weird.

In fact, it was making her more than a little uncomfortable.

"The workload was interfering with my duties to the Foot clan," Karai said when asked about how much work had gone into the production. "It would not have been so bad if my Math teacher didn't keep giving us more work out of a self-confessed spite for Christmas."

"Not to worry, Karai," Saki said; Karai glanced at him. "You will not be returning after the holidays."

Karai's heart leaped… in a bad way. "Am I to be transferred, father? Or home-schooled?"

"I will explain after dinner. Come; I assume you are hungry."

Well, yes, that was true. Karai hadn't had anything substantial to eat since lunch; just a few snacks while her group was eating their feelings to get rid of stage fright. Karai dumped the wig and school bag in her room and headed downstairs for dinner without bothering to change. She left her phone, too, because Shredder didn't approve of phones at the table, and anyway who was going to call her right now?

It was just a pity April and Leo's texts would arrive while she was having dinner.

Dinner was strangely informal in comparison to usual. Saki was more chatty than he had been for a while and didn't even bug Karai about the fact that she was still wearing most of her costume and basically looked like a mess. Especially since some of the 'makeup' dirt on her face and hands had been scooped up straight from the school flowerbeds.

Something strange was going on. It felt like something was up. Almost like Saki was compensating for something. Karai didn't know what was going on but it was making her nervous. Hell, she wasn't even totally sure she wanted to know what 'it' was.

She wasn't looking forward to finding out.

When dinner was over, Saki stood and said, "Come with me, Karai. There is something important I must discuss with you."

_Okay. Here we go._ Karai steeled herself and followed him to the laboratories. Wary of the fact that the lights were off, she cautiously asked, "What's going on, father?"

"Your loyalty to the Foot clan has not once wavered," Saki said, in the voice he used when bestowing a high honour or a promotion on someone. Karai let a pokerface expression fall across her features. "You have always done what is required of you for the good of the clan. I trust this will not change now."

Karai didn't answer verbally; instead she gave a small, curt nod.

"Good. Karai, today was your final day at that school."

Karai tried to figure out what he meant, but nothing clicked yet. "Am I to be home schooled?" she asked again, feigning ignorance. It had to be something more important than that.

"In a way," Saki told her. "You will be removed from public education so you can take your rightful place in the ranks of the Foot Clan. From now on, you will learn to be a leader of the Foot Clan."

"I see. Thank you, father." Alright, things were starting to add up a little more. But why were they in the labs?

Saki switched the lights on. _Oh_.

Oh shit. Was that _mutagen_? The stuff that had mutated Leo and his brothers? And Raphael's girlfriend?

Now it was coming together: either Shredder planned to have the Hamatos mutated further to somehow get rid of them, or someone was going to be mutated and would then be required to hunt them down.

And it wasn't very likely that he had them all lined up, ready to be mutated.

Then something else hit her: Chaplin was in on it. He knew that if Karai was promoted she wouldn't be interested in going out with him; it wouldn't even be a possibility. And if this plan was pulled off successfully there would be no time for such things anyway. There would be her duties to the Foot Clan and a secret resentment towards Saki which would build up and cause her to try to kill him if first she wasn't taken over by an inescapable depression because she didn't save Leo and his family and –

_No. There must be another option._

Of course there was. She could undergo the mutation herself. But then what?

She would run away. Act like her instincts were out of control and leave this place. She'd have to get to her room on the way out. She wished she had time to text Leo – tell him something cheesy, tell him she was going to need help, _anything_ – but it would probably be too late by then. She'd probably have to smash her cell phone on the way out, just in case anyone used it to track her.

Oh God. There was no way this was really happening. The world took on a surreal, dreamlike quality all of a sudden; everything felt as though it wasn't really happening.

Yes. That was the only way. Hopefully this was the only mutagen they had and if that was the case, she could save the Hamato family by putting herself through a transformation she had never considered wanting to undergo.

But there was no going back once it happened. There was hiding out somewhere out of sight and hoping she was strong enough to retain a human form – some weren't, she had been told one – and knowing she had betrayed her own clan, and for what?

For the sake of people who genuinely cared about her and who she had learned to care about. People who didn't deserve to be hunted down in this way; who just wanted to keep the city safe. People who didn't want to use her as a weapon.

That was the deciding point. It was irrational but she was a teenager, and as such she had to make at least _one_ dumb decision at some point, right?

"Father?" she asked, still feigning ignorance.

"Hamato Yoshi and his Turtles have been a thorn in the side of the Foot clan for far too long," Saki – no; he was just the Shredder now – said. "They must be stopped, and it may be possible to do that by attacking them at their home. For that, they must be –"

"Hunted down," Karai said quietly.

"Yes," Shredder said, "and I am leaving it to you to choose the most suitable candidate for the mission. This is the only mutagen we were successfully able to create, so you must choose carefully."

Karai's mind was already made up. This was the point her life in the Foot clan had come to?

So be it. She wasn't going along with it anymore. This ended tonight.

"Me," she said, her voice devoid of all emotion.

The Shredder hesitated. "Karai –"

"I will do it. No-one better comes to mind. I shall do what I must." _To protect Leo_, she added in her mind. Would this make her a loyal friend, or a traitor to her own clan? It probably didn't matter. Maybe she was both. That didn't seem so bad as just the latter.

Besides, if she let someone else do it, she would want to make sure Leonardo and the others were okay. And if she tried to help them, the Shredder would undoubtedly discover her involvement with Leo. If that happened, she wasn't sure what would be done to her, but chances were good that being mutated was the preferable option.

"My daughter," Shredder said, "are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Was that regret in his voice? But it didn't matter. If he wanted to stop her, it was too late. Karai grabbed the canister of mutagen, held it above her head and emptied it over herself in two swift movements.

Karai had never asked anyone what it was like to be mutated. She'd braced herself to be fighting off pain, but it didn't come. Instead there was discomfort all over her body, stretching and pressing and pulling and squeezing, especially on her head and her legs.

Maybe the bracing she'd given herself did something, because when the mutation was over, it took a moment or two to realise she wasn't a snake.

That was when she genuinely _did_ panic. Not because she hadn't transformed, but because she could feel her body _wanting_ to transform. It felt like something was trying to drag her body into a different shape, trying to harden her skin and stretch her teeth.

So she ran. She ran up to her room, faster than she had run before and with the Shredder calling after her, trying to get her to come back, and she grabbed her sword and her phone. There were texts on it from Leo and April O'Neil, but she ignored them. Instead she opened her contacts list as she kicked through her window – she wanted to waste as little time as possible – stuck her sword into the wall above her window and swung herself onto the roof, removing her sword as she went.

April's was the first name on the list she reached, and she didn't know how long she could hold off the transformation, so that was the number she called. It didn't take O'Neil long to pick up. She sounded worried.

"Karai? Oh thank God! Are you okay?"

"Help me," Karai said into the phone. Her voice was rough and strained and frightened.

Great. She was Karai Oroku. She wasn't supposed to show weakness.

"Jesus. Where are you? We'll send someone out to get you."

"Just tell Leo to meet me. Quick. He knows where."

After that, Karai rang off and threw the phone as far as she could. It bounced off a building, fell to the street and smashed. There. Now, if there was a tracking device in the phone, the Foot clan wouldn't be able to trace her.

She reached the rooftop she had always met Leo on this year and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and staved off the transformation as best she could. The more time went by, the more effort it took to stay human.

* * *

April had told Leo to go as soon as Karai rang off, and immediately he headed off to the roof he always met Karai on, transforming just as he went out the door. There was a small leaping feeling in both his chest and his gut, and he didn't know if it was good or bad. Knowing the way his luck ran, it would be the latter.

Leo reached the roof in record time, and Karai was still human, but Leo's heart sank anyway. Her eyes were different. They were completely green, even the parts that should have been white, and her pupils were vertical slits now. Her teeth looked a little sharper, too.

_Oh God. I was too late._

"Karai!" he exclaimed, and ran over to her.

"Leo!" her voice was strained. She looked up. She'd been concentrating hard on something. "Help me!"

Leo dropped to one knee and threw one of Karai's arms over his shoulder. "Karai, are you alright? I'm gonna take you back to my house, and Donnie can –"

"_No_!" Karai flinched as though to withdraw her arm, but Leo had a firm hold on her wrist and she didn't get too far. "Too dangerous. Just hide me."

Leo froze for a second. There was a hint of a hiss in her voice. That was right; Donnie had said the mutagen would be mixed with snake DNA. Yes, it would be too dangerous to bring her home, especially if Karai lost control of her instincts and went after Master Splinter. In that case, there was only one place to bring her.

"I'll take you to our old lair," he said. "You can hide out there. Would that be okay by you?"

Karai nodded. She seemed to be saving all her energy – maybe she was using it to focus on not transforming. Leo led her down to street-level and got on the phone to his brothers to inform them of the situation. They agreed to meet him at the Lair, although Karai told him not to let Splinter down there. Leo relayed the message, rang off and asked her what had happened.

"Shredder wanted me to pick someone to mutate," Karai answered. The strain in her voice was becoming more and more evident, like in a movie where someone is injured. "I volunteered. I'm trying not to change but –" she stopped talking for a minute, apparently trying to gather more strength, before saying – "but it's getting difficult."

"It'll be okay," Leo said, trying to reassure himself as much as Karai. "We just need to get you underground. You can change then, without being seen."

"Good. Thanks."

Even though it was incredibly forward for him, Leo picked Karai up and carried her to the nearest manhole. She had a grip on his shoulder so tight it was almost painful but he kept going. Once they dropped into the sewers, he lowered Karai back to her feet. She dropped to her hands and knees.

Leo turned his head, to allow her the privacy of her first change. He, Splinter, his brothers and Joy had changed forms in front of one another before, but the initial mutation was something Leo had always felt should be private. He could hear Karai's groans of discomfort and her clothing being torn as she changed; then when the change ended, the only sound from her was heavy breathing. He turned to face her.

Karai had been mutated into a snake: that much was obvious right from the start. Like with Joy, her colouration reflected how she had looked before the change: there were markings in the shape of her makeup, and black and bleach-blonde where her hair had been. Her body and face were long and elegant but at the same time awful to have to look at, and Leo wasn't sure why. Maybe he felt guilty that he hadn't checked his phone earlier; hadn't done more to stop this from happening. Her dark shirt had stayed mostly in-tact, although it had torn a little at the seams.

"How bad is it?" Karai asked. Her voice was a quiet, low hiss, barely a whisper. She had caught her breath again.

That broke Leo, somehow. He threw his arms around Karai and buried his face in her shoulder. He didn't know what was wrong but he just needed to hold her for a moment.

"Leo… this isn't very reassuring."

Leo stood back and muttered an awkward apology before saying, "I guess it could've been worse. At least you've still got arms."

"Hilarious. How do I move like this?"

"You'll figure it out," Leo said, trying his best to reassure her. He ducked under one of Karai's arms and looped a hand around her waist so he could help her walk – or slither or whatever, since she didn't have legs anymore – the rest of the way to the old Lair.

It unsettled Leo that they were the same temperature now. It meant she had semi-cold blood, too. Leo didn't like that; didn't want her to have to experience what it was like. There were times when being a mutant really _sucked_. It was harder to keep warm in the winter. If the animal part of your mutation was one with certain sensory disadvantages, chances were you got those too: Leo and his brothers couldn't hear some high frequencies in their turtle forms. Not to mention, when you switched forms, you had to compensate for the change. In Leo's case it meant changing his centre of balance to make up for the gain or loss of his shell. In Karai's case it would mean figuring out how to move without legs.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked.

"To protect you… and your family," Karai said. Then she let out a bitter laugh. "God, I'm stupid. I've just betrayed my Clan for teenage hormones. I can't believe I thought I had honour."

"If you want to start a pity party," Leo said, "what about _me_? Donnie texted me not to let you go home with the Shredder but I didn't check my phone in time. And if I'd called you instead of texting, if I'd done it _sooner_, you'd –"

"I'd still be human and you'd be hunted down by a snake-mutant who had no reason to go against the Shredder."

"Exactly. And I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I'm sure Splinter would have something to say about how honourable it is to do the right thing."

"I guess."

Well, it was better than nothing. After a while, Karai asked how to change back.

"You – you think about it, I guess." It was hard to explain when you'd been doing it for two-thirds of your life. "But don't. Not just yet. Save your strength. It takes up a lot of energy if you try to do too much too quickly. And it won't last long at first."

Karai huffed and fell silent. As they continued – slowly at first, with Karai setting the pace – her movements became easier as she adjusted to her new form. Soon they were able to pick up the pace.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey caught up to them not far from the old Lair.

"Woah…" Mikey said. "Dude, what happened to Karai?"

Raph smacked him over the back of the head.

"Let's just get her into the Lair," Leo said. "Donnie, where's April?"

"Up top," Donnie said. "Why?"

"See if she can bring some spare clothes for Karai."

"What?" Karai asked.

"Trust me, when you turn back you'll want them."

"Uh, guys?" Mikey asked. "Are you sure the Lair's a good hiding place for Karai? I mean, it would be easier for Donnie to make the retromutagen for her if –"

Leo shook his head. "Mikey, what do snakes hunt?"

"Rats?"

"And what animal was Master Splinter mutated with?"

"A ra – _oh_."

Raph shook his head in a resigned way. It didn't matter if you wanted to think Mikey was stupid with moments of clarity or smarter than he was given credit for with moments of stupidity; that right there was _not_ one of his bright moments.

"Still," Donnie said, "it's Christmas. Seems kind of unfair to leave someone alone down here."

"Uh, that might actually not be such a problem, guys…"

Four pairs of eyes turned to Mikey and Raph said menacingly:

"_What did you do?_"


End file.
